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Foot and Mouth impact case studies
06/08/2002
Case studies into the impact of last year's Foot and
Mouth disease outbreak on key sectors of the economy and
rural communities in Scotland, were published today.
The case studies - published by the Impact Assessment
Group - covered the tourism, transport and agri-food
sectors. There were also studies in four rural communities
across Scotland: Kelso, Castle Douglas, Isle of Skye and
the Black Isle.
The report, which builds upon the survey work that had
previously been commissioned by the group, found that while
some businesses were impacted in the immediate aftermath of
the outbreak, in the longer term, the majority of
businesses are likely to experience minimal or no
impact.
Some of the key findings of all the studies are:
- There is no evidence of FMD having a significant
effect on reported unemployment, with levels in 2001
being consistently below 2000. However, it is
acknowledged that there was a short-term fall in the
level of casual/seasonal labour employed over the
summer, often in response to the fall in tourism
numbers.
- Businesses directly associated with Agriculture
felt the most severe initial impact and are most likely
to see longer term impacts. Auction Marts, Abattoirs
and Livestock Hauliers all faced the dual problems of
declining incomes and rising costs as a result of the
additional regulations in each sector.
- FMD was only one factor affecting the tourism
sector in 2001. Whilst there was undoubtedly a fall in
tourism numbers, other key factors such as the strength
of Sterling and the poor weather make it very difficult
to isolate the impacts of FMD. In terms of timing, the
largest declines were seen during the peak months of
the crisis. During July and August, the reduction was
not as significant - implying that the industry was
beginning to recover.
- Overall the businesses consulted had seen FMD as a
blip and were optimistic about the future. In the
significant majority of cases where there had been a
negative impact or pessimistic outlook, FMD was seen as
an additional or a compounding problem rather the sole
cause of a difficult situation.
The Case Studies were commissioned by the Impact
Assessment Group which the Minister for Environment and
Rural Affairs set up in response to the outbreak of Foot
and Mouth Disease to assess the social and economic impacts
of the disease.
The IAG commissioned independent consultants to perform
Case Studies on representative communities and key sectors.
Castle Douglas, Kelso, Skye and the Black Isle were chosen
as typical communities from both accessible and remote
parts of rural Scotland. Transport, Tourism and the
Agri-Food sector were also studied as they had been
identified as having been most significantly affected by
the outbreak in previous assessment work.
The Case Studies are qualitative and not intended to
provide quantified impacts of the disease. Quantitative
results will be produced by the ex-post assessment, which
is currently under consideration and will publish toward
the end of the year.
The full Case Studies are available on the Scottish
Executive website at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/agri/
Due to the diversity within the results, there is no
summary of the sectoral report. The area-based studies do
contain a short executive summary although care should be
taken not to interpret the results based upon this summary
as it disguises large differences in impacts across
areas.