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Biosecurity

Volume 455: debated on Tuesday 9 January 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department has spent on initiatives to educate (a) farmers and (b) vets to recognise the clinical signs of biosecurity threats and infectious diseases in livestock in each year since 2000. (109595)

The information requested is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, as an example, over £500,000 has been spent over the last 18 months raising awareness of the symptoms of avian influenza, promoting the Great Britain poultry register and informing bird keepers of the appropriate biosecurity measures. The messages used were developed with interested parties. This process is continuing with other diseases such as bluetongue, classical swine fever and foot and mouth disease.

Good biosecurity is a vital part of keeping new disease away from animals. It also helps to improve farm efficiency, and to protect neighbouring farms and the countryside.

Further information, including the current DEFRA biosecurity guidance, is available on the Department’s website at:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/control/biosecurity/index.htm.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to detect and identify pathogens that pose threats to livestock in the United Kingdom. (109597)

The Department undertakes a wide range of surveillance activities to detect and identify pathogens that pose threats to livestock in the United Kingdom.

The International Disease Surveillance Team monitors the occurrence of major animal disease outbreaks worldwide as an early warning to assess the risk these events may pose to the UK. Our assessments and reports aim to raise awareness that animal disease outbreaks occur regularly around the world. We publish our assessments and routine summary reports on the DEFRA website or in the Veterinary Record. Details of this work can be found at:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/monitoring/index.htm

Owing to increased international concern about the spread of avian influenza, increased targeted surveillance is being undertaken. This includes enhancing the UK wild bird survey, investigating the causes of unusually high mortality events in wild birds, and a national survey for avian influenza viruses of subtypes H5 and H7 in domestic poultry. Further information can be found on the DEFRA website at:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/notifiable/disease/ai/wildbirds/survey.htm#2

DEFRA continues to work closely with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to prevent illegal imports entering the UK and causing a disease outbreak. This includes effective enforcement, targeted risk-based inspections and raising public awareness. More information can be found on the DEFRA website at:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/illegali

A surveillance programme is also undertaken by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency to provide DEFRA and other interested parties with a targeted assessment of the current disease status of farmed livestock and birds in England and Wales (disease information in Scotland is provided by the Scottish Agricultural Colleges Veterinary Science Division) and to warn of potential risks from changing disease trends or new diseases. It also monitors any welfare issues resulting from changes in husbandry practice or the emergence of new diseases. The project also provides information which assists in supporting declarations of Great Britain-wide clearance for exotic non-notifiable diseases. The principal outputs of this programme are a series of disease surveillance reports which are published on the DEFRA website at:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/surveillance reports/index.htm

The Department is working closely with devolved Administrations to implement the UK Veterinary Surveillance Strategy which aims to

(i) Improve our network of surveillance partners

(ii) Improve prioritisation to ensure that surveillance activity is targeted effectively, based on risk assessment

(iii) Using an innovative IT system (RADAR) to help identify, analyse and track animal disease-related threats more rapidly

(iv) Improve data sharing and data quality.

Further information on this is available on the DEFRA website at:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/vetsurveillance/index.htm.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether there is a national response plan in the event of attack on the United Kingdom food supply chain. (109598)

DEFRA participates fully in the central Government programme to improve civil contingency planning, especially in areas relating to our departmental responsibilities. This includes planning in relation to disruptions to the UK food chain.