Foot-and-mouth underlined the need for movement records

The National Audit Office (NAO) says the schemes for tracking animal movements do help guard public health.

But after finding evidence of errors and incomplete records, it argues the way data is collected needs improving.

Inaccurate information and missed deadlines for records costs the government about �15m a year, it says.

Knowledge gaps

The foot-and-mouth disease epidemic in 2001 underlined the need to be able to trace animal movements quickly to prevent outbreaks spreading.

The NAO report centres on the Cattle Tracing System, run by the government, and the Animal Movements Licensing System, operated by local councils.

The watchdog found that a quarter of postal applications for cattle passports included an error, while movement records for one animal in eight were incomplete.

That means the current location of 2% of cattle is uncertain.

NAO head Sir John Bourn said: "Information on the movement of animals around the country is of vital importance in the fight to prevent the spread of animal disease, all the more so when there is a serious outbreak.

"It is also vital to consumers' confidence in the food that they eat.

"The animal identification and tracking systems in place at present have helped to protect public health but both systems are in need of improvement."