Disease payouts under scrutiny

Millions of pounds have been claimed as compensation

Compensation costs paid to farmers hit by the foot-and-mouth crisis are to be investigated by MPs.

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed that 37 farmers have claimed more than £1m compensation each for livestock slaughtered in the foot-and-mouth cull.

But the National Farmers' Union (NFU) has defended the payouts, saying its members were not becoming "foot-and-mouth millionaires" as most of the money would be spent on restocking.

The spiralling cost of the foot-and-mouth epidemic is thought to have already exceeded £2bn.

I am not one of these 37 who have got more than a million - although I would like to be

Willie Cleave
Farmer

The largest payment so far, according to a report in The Sunday Times, was £4.2m to a farmer in Dumfries whose herds of Charolais and Limousin cattle were culled in March.

NFU leader Ben Gill criticised the "potentially damaging" way the claims had been presented, which he said could be the result of someone "spinning against farmers".

"Everybody who knows anything about the business of farming and food production knows it is beset with the problems of being capital intensive," he told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour.

"I am not surprised that some farmers' capital assets or breeding stock...amount to this sort of money."

He also rejected government suggestions that farmers should be forced to insure themselves against future outbreaks as unworkable.

"Insurers are not prepared to take this risk on any more unless the government is prepared to do something and has agreed to police our borders, and they are demonstrably not doing it."

£1.3m payout denied

A National Audit Office report into the cost effectiveness of the government's response to the outbreak will form the basis for an investigation to be carried out by the Commons Public Accounts Committee.

A farmer whose 1,500 sheep and 900 cattle were slaughtered has denied reports he made £1.3m out of the cull and then bragged about it in his local pub.

Willie Cleave of Burdon Farm in Highampton, near Okehampton, North Devon, said he had received between £500,000 and £1m.

The 44-year-old told BBC News: "When my animals were killed it was right at the start of the outbreak and I got a very low value for them.

Disease facts

Total cases: 1,928

No new cases Sunday

Animals slaughtered: 3,671,000

Awaiting slaughter: 29,000

Awaiting disposal: 20,000

"The reason everyone thinks that I got £1.3m is that some smart Alec has worked out the numbers of animals I had and then used the set prices which came in later."

Michael Wallbank, from Skipton, North Yorkshire, said the £700,000 he had received was a "fair" amount to replace his 449 cattle and recoup the money he had spent on them.

He told BBC Radio Five Live's Breakfast programme: "During the past eight years we have spent £630,000 on milk and water and we have buildings that house those 449 cattle that cost in excess of £400,000 to build."

Fraud probe

About 5,200 sheep have been culled in the Brecon Beacons since last Friday.

Test results on a further 4,000 sheep from the Welsh national park are expected in the next few days.

Meanwhile, another report suggests that millions of pounds in compensation could be withheld by the European Union, over allegations of fraud by farmers.

It has been alleged that some farmers are deliberately infecting their cattle with foot-and-mouth in order to claim compensation payments, although the NFU says there is no evidence to support this.

The Independent on Sunday reports that the EU - which is meeting up to 60% of the compensation cost - is threatening to hold back the payments until the claims are further investigated.