Cross-party group in call for reduction of OTMSpayments
Cross-party group in call for reduction of OTMSpayments
A PARLIAMENTARY committee has recommended that payments for cattle slaughtered in the over-30-month scheme should be cut in order to reduce the overall bill of the BSE crisis.
MPs on the cross-party Public Accounts Committee described the prospect of the scheme running for another 15 years as a daunting prospect for the taxpayer.
"We expect the ministry to be alert to the possibility of reducing the level of expenditure on the scheme, for example by phasing the scheme out or reducing the value of payments, should the opportunity to do so arise over the course of the next 15 years," said chairman David Davis.
The OTMS accounts for more than half of all BSE-related expenditure. By March 2001, the government expects to have spent a total of £4.2 billion on control measures.
Last month farm minister Nick Brown said the OTMS was under review and he was awaiting reports from scientific advisers before considering whether or not some cattle over 30-months-old could be sold for human consumption.
The accounts committees report also concluded that MAFF spent too much money in the early days of the BSE crisis, paying higher prices to abattoirs, slaughterers and the rendering industry than were necessary.
"The ministry should have acted more quickly and negotiated more vigorously with the abattoirs, renders and incineration companies to achieve the departments objectives at less cost," said Mr Davis.
MAFF had been weak, Mr Davis said, although he accepted that at the time both the ministry and the Intervention Board were facing unprecedented pressure in very difficult circumstances.
The committee was also critical of the time it took to introduce a cattle traceability system. If a computerised identification system had been available at the start of the crisis then the export ban might have been lifted sooner and confidence restored in British beef, it concluded. *