Incompetence and complacency by ministers and officials hid the truth about the dangers of mad cow disease from the public for years, the BSE inquiry report said yesterday.

People were repeatedly misled and kept in the dark by statements that underplayed the potential risk, Lord Phillips's mammoth report concluded.

But the report stressed there was no deliberate intention to deceive and no orchestrated cover-up to protect the interests of farmers at the expense of public health.

And individual politicians, such as former Agriculture Minister John Gummer, who were expected to be severely criticised, escaped serious censure.

As the 16-volume report was published, the Government pledged financial support for the victims of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), the human form of the cattle brain disease Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).

Health Secretary Alan Milburn will next week meet the families to discuss a multi-million pound compensation award. An immediate payment of £1m will also go to the National CJD Surveillance Unit to kick-start a care package for living sufferers.

In the House of Commons yesterday, former Tory Prime Minister John Major, who was in charge during the crisis, said: "All of us must accept our responsibilities and shortcomings."

Conservative agriculture spokesman Tim Yeo also made a public apology. "I am truly sorry for what has happened," he told the House.

Victims' families broadly welcomed the report and the action announced by the Government. David Churchill, whose 19-year-old son was the first victim of vCJD in 1995, called the report "a tremendous achievement".

The families' solicitor, David Body, said he thought the public inquiry had done "a thorough and proper job".

Frances Hall, from Chester-le-Street, whose son Peter, 20, died from vCJD, said the care package was much-needed.

"We have to make sure the families are supported as they go through hell," she said.

But Kevin Minto, from Sunderland, whose wife Mandi, 27, was another victim, felt that guilty men had been let off the hook.

At a news conference earlier, Lord Phillips, Master of the Rolls, who chaired the inquiry denied that the report had been too lenient.

"I don't think we have pulled our punches and I don't believe this report is a whitewash," he said.

The report highlighted an over-riding desire to avoid an unjustified health scare, poor communication between Government departments, and bureaucratic delays in responding to scientific warnings about the risk of BSE.

It criticised successive ministers, including Mr Gummer, former Agriculture Minister Douglas Hogg and former Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell for treating the risk of BSE-contaminated beef infecting humans too lightly.

However, the criticisms were muted compared with what had been expected.

In particular, Mr Gummer was exonerated over the famous 1990 publicity stunt in which he tried to feed his four-year-old daughter, Cordelia, a beefburger.

The report said Mr Gummer had been placed in a "no win" situation when he was challenged to demonstrate his confidence in British beef.

Officials were also criticised for not waking up fast enough to the BSE threat and giving the public false assurances about the safety of beef.

They included Keith Meldrum, chief veterinary officer from 1988 to 1997, Sir Donald Acheson, chief medical officer from 1983 to 1991, and Colin Maclean, director-general of the Meat and Livestock Commission from 1992 to 1999.

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said he would not comment on individual cases, but a Civil Service Commissioner will examine whether any of the officials criticised should face disciplinary action.

The inquiry, which lasted almost three years and cost £27m, traced the BSE story back to the 1970s, when the report said the first cattle were probably infected. BSE was officially recognised as a new cattle disease in 1986.

In 1988, the use of slaughterhouse remains in cattle feed was outlawed, and in 1989 the Specified Offal Ban was introduced, which prevented high-risk tissue, such as the brain, spinal cord and spleen, entering human food.

The report said BSE developed into an epidemic as a result of the recycling of animal remains in cattle feed.

Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food appreciated from the outset the possibility that BSE might affect humans, the report found.

But the Department of Health was not asked to collaborate with Maff in assessing the human health implications of BSE.

Read the official report here.

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