Army will tackle future foot-and-mouth outbreaks from first detection

The army and police will be drafted in from day one of any future foot-and-mouth epidemic under plans being drawn up by ministers.

The action plan is a tacit admission that the Government did not act decisively enough last year to combat the spread of the highly infectious virus.

Ministers waited a month after the disease was detected at Brentwood, Essex, before calling in army reinforcements. They said later they were impressed by the speed and expertise of the military response in the foot-and-mouth hotspots of Cumbria and Devon.

The Government is bracing itself for a highly critical report from an inquiry chaired by the microbiologist Iain Anderson, into the lessons learnt from the handing of the outbreak. His inquiry is expected to conclude that the failure to send in troops earlier was one of the Government's biggest mistakes.

A senior minister told The Independent: "Anderson is very interested in command and control. He thinks we should have brought the army and police in on day one." The minister added that the Government was coming round to this point of view.

The plan means that some army personnel and police officers would receive training in the handling of a future animal disease emergency.

Ministers have also been impressed by the example of Australia, which has recently drawn up the world's toughest contingency plans for a foot-and-mouth outbreak. Under its proposals, army and police officers would be called in within hours of a case being confirmed.

Although the Government has admitted to some errors in its response to foot-and-mouth, it had not until now conceded the need for a co-ordinated military and police response.

In a submission to the Anderson inquiry, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs side-stepped the issue of whether the army should have been involved earlier.

It acknowledged the army's "logistical and organisational skills" were vital for combating the spread of the disease. "The armed forces brought logistical experience and capacity to foot-and-mouth disease control and was invaluable in many areas, for example organisation on the ground in clearing the disposal backlog," it added.

In the submission the Government said that, in retrospect, it regretted not stopping all animal movements once the disease had been found. It also conceded a mistake in shutting all rural footpaths, a move that sent a highly damaging message to potential visitors.

During the crisis, about 6.5 million animals were destroyed. The eventual £3bn bill is likely to be condemned by the European Union when it con-siders a £750m compensation request from the Government.