Bovine TB has risen in Wales

The Welsh Assembly Government has been told it must urgently review the way it pays compensation.

The Auditor General for Wales, Sir John Bourn, said procedures for payments needed to be addressed.

Farmers are supposed to receive the market value for an animal hit with TB, but last year's payments of more than �8m were at least 50% higher.

The report acknowledged that bovine TB was a serious problem for farmers in Wales, with cases on the increase.

But analysis by the Auditor General's office showed valuations for cattle lost to the disease in 2002 were inconsistent with the market value and were considerably higher than those in Devon and Northern Ireland.

Bovine TB is spreading at an alarming rate in Wales Evan R Thomas, FUW

It said the assembly did not effectively monitor and regulate how animals were valued.

The report said a "secondary" market had emerged for TB compensation, which had "developed a dynamic of its own, where valuations had not reflected true market prices".

It went on to state: "There are issues in this for all concerned in the process to address."

'Victim'

The Farmers' Union of Wales said compensation payments should not be significantly reduced until the government takes "decisive action" to wipe out the disease.

The FUW's national TB forum representative Evan R Thomas said: "Bovine TB is spreading at an alarming rate in Wales.

"Even if these payment changes are implemented, any immediate savings will be quickly wiped out by the ever-increasing number of herds that are falling victim to this dreadful disease."

According to FUW figures, just under 5,000 animals were slaughtered in 2002, with cases of the disease increasing by an average of 29% per year from 1996 to 2002.