REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE PETITIONS FOR THE REDRESS OF GRIEVANCE OF DAVID ARTHUR NEWTON REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE PETITIONS FOR REDRESS OF GRIEVANCE OF DAVID ARTHUR NEWTON At the sitting of Tynwald Court on 19th November 2003 it was resolved that a Select Committee of three Members be established to - "examine the Petitions for Redress of Grievance of Mr David Arthur Newton presented at Tynwald Hill on 7th July 2003 with powers to take written and oral evidence pursuant to sections 3 and 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1876 and to report with to the Tynwald sitting in March 2004 at the latest" Mr G M Quayle (Middle) (Chairman) Mr P A Gawne MHK (Rushen) Mr D J Gelling CBE MLC The powers, privileges and immunities relating to the work of a committee of Tynwald are those conferred by sections 3 and 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1876, sections 1 to 4 of the Privileges of Tynwald (Publications) Act 1973 and sections 2 to 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1984. Copies of this Report may be obtained from the Tynwald Library, Legislative Buildings, Bucks Road, Douglas IM1 3PW (Tel 01624 685516, Fax 01624 685522) or may be consulted at www.tynwald.org.im All correspondence with regard to this Report should be addressed to the Clerk of Tynwald, Legislative Buildings, Bucks Road, Douglas IM1 3PW. To: The Hon Noel Q Cringle MLC, President of Tynwald, and the Hon Council and Keys in Tynwald assembled REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE PETITIONS FOR REDRESS OF GRIEVANCE OF DAVID ARTHUR NEWTON Introduction 1. Your Committee have met on ten occasions to consider the two Petitions for Redress of Grievance presented at Tynwald Hill by Mr David Arthur Newton on 7th July 2003. The Petitions are at Appendix 1. We took evidence in public (see Appendix 2) as follows:- On 1st March 2004 from Mr D A Newton Hon A F Downie MHK (as former Minister of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - DAFF) Mr Eamon O'Donnell, Chief Veterinary Officer, DAFF On 1st April 2004 from Hon R K Corkill MHK (as former Treasury Minister and current Chief Minister) Mr Simon Jackson (as former Financial Management Adviser, the Treasury) Mr Colin Kniveton, Financial Controller, the Treasury Mr J F Crellin (as immediate past President of the Manx National Farmers Union - MNFU) On 15th April 2004 from Mr Michael Gaffney, DAFF 2. We have, in addition, received written evidence from Mr Newton, the Treasury, the Chief Secretary's Office and DAFF, the Fat Stock Marketing Association and the Steam Packet Company, which has consisted largely of the relevant official files. Under Standing Order 3.23(8), it has because of its volume been deposited in the Tynwald Library. The Committee's deliberations have been assisted by the Attorney General. 3. The case concerns the import by Mr Newton of a consignment of 37 gilts and three boars to the Island in February 2001 coincidentally with an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in England and, on that account, the destruction of the pigs when they had arrived, followed by the destruction of all the 1,125 pigs on Mr Newton's farm. Full compensation for the replacement value of the animals destroyed and for the feed wasted was paid, and the petitions concern essentially the question of compensation for all the other costs and losses which followed from the slaughter in the particular context of the case. The importation and slaughter 4. In the autumn of 2000, DAFF had encouraged pig farmers to maintain or increase production because the Island was experiencing a shortage of home produced pigmeat. A consignment of gilts was therefore ordered by Mr Newton from a farm in Kent to enable his breeding programme to be taken forward quickly. The supplier had been chosen carefully to provide high quality animals to maintain the standard of Mr Newton's herd. (Mr M Gaffney of DAFF, indeed, confirmed in evidence to us that Mr Newton had amongst pig producers, been "probably the most consistent, in terms of actually hitting the [production] target with his pigs, and in terms of the quality of them".) 5. The first issue we look at concerns the circumstances in which the import and delivery took place, and the immediate slaughter of the animals occurred. On these matters, there is conflicting evidence about the precise times and dates of the importation and delivery to Mr Newton's farm 3 which it has been a matter of some difficulty to resolve, but we are satisfied that our investigation has now established the actual order of events. 6. A consignment of thirty seven gilts and three boars was scheduled to sail at 2.15 am on Tuesday 20th February 2001 from Heysham to Douglas. The sailing was delayed because of thick fog until 7.25 am, and it arrived at Douglas at approximately 11.00 am. DAFF's daybook indicates that the consignment was noted for inspection between Tuesday 20th and Friday 23rd February. 7. The same day, Tuesday 20th February 2001, a fax arrived at DAFF from the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food in London (MAFF), after 5.30 pm when all the senior staff had left. The fax cannot now be located, but the Chief Veterinary Officer, Mr Eamon O'Donnell, recalls that it contained the first warning that FMD had been confirmed at an abattoir in Essex. At 6.45 am in the morning of the next day, Wednesday 21si February 2001, Mr O'Donnell was awoken by the veterinary officer at the meat plant to say that he had heard on the radio that FMD had been confirmed in England. Mr O'Donnell was at his office by 7.30 am and was given the fax that had arrived from MAFF the night before. 8. Mr O'Donnell then telephoned Mr Newton's farm to ask for the route plan that the lorry carrying the imported pigs had followed to get from Kent to Heysham. Mr Newton did not know the details, and referred Mr O'Donnell to the supplier in Kent. In the meantime, Mr Newton was told to stay on the farm and that no person or vehicle was to enter or leave the premises. 9. Mr Newton says that he had heard no more by 11.00 am, and that he telephoned Mr O'Donnell and was told that it had been ascertained that the lorry carrying the gilts had passed 50 miles downwind of an abattoir in Essex where FMD had been confirmed. Mr O'Donnell said that the whole of Mr Newton's herd - not just the imported animals - would have 4 J to be slaughtered, because testing would take too long and the interpretation of the results of testing would not show conclusively that no infection was present. 10. Shortly afterwards, there was a call from the Minister at DAFF, who at the time was Hon A F Downie MHK. The Minister gave the same explanation as Mr O'Donnell had given as to why slaughter of the whole herd was the only option, and reminded Mr Newton that there was a compensation scheme in place applicable in the circumstances. According to Mr Newton, Mr Downie concluded by saying "just help us get through this, David, we'll see you right afterwards". Mr Downie has accepted that that was what he said. 11. The records show that the slaughter of the imported pigs then took place at once in the afternoon of Wednesday 21st February, and was followed by the slaughter of the rest of the herd on Thursday and Friday 22nd and 23rd February 2001. By the afternoon of Thursday 22nd February, whilst the process was still taking place, the results of the blood tests taken from the imported gilts indicated no sign of infection - although, as we have noted, the outcome of such tests does not show conclusively whether the animals had been infected or not. 12. In the Department's record of events, the first document of relevance is the submission to the Minister for his approval of the slaughter. It is dated Thursday 22nd February 2001, and it states that the outbreak of FMD was confirmed by MAFF on Tuesday 20th February as being "in an area centred on Brentwood in Essex". 13. The submission on Thursday 22nd February continues that "At lunchtime on [Tuesday] 20/02/01 a consignment of pigs were imported into the Isle of Man from the North Kent Area and proceeded to the premises of Mr D Newton, Bay View, Ballamodha, Malew." Three options were presented: (i) to observe the pig herd closely and take action on the first clinical signs (ii) to destroy the imported pigs and observe the rest, as in the first option, and (iii) destroy the whole herd as a pre-emptive measure. 5 14. Slaughter of the whole herd pursuant to the powers in article 3 of the Animal Health (Slaughter and Compensation) Order 1997 was then recommended by the Chief Veterinary Officer, Mr Eamon O'Donnell, and supported by the Chief Executive. The submission was endorsed by the Minister "Recommendation approved Alex F Downie MHK 22/02/2001''. Neither the submission nor the approval was expressed to be a confirmation of action already taken. 15. It was pointed out to Mr Downie that his approval had been given on Thursday 22nd February, whilst the import had been two days earlier, on Tuesday 20th February. Asked if there had been a time lag between the two, he said: "There was no time lag.