To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which of the recommendations contained in the Lessons Learned Report published following the outbreak of avian influenza last February have been implemented in full; and if he will make a statement. (165925)

[holding answer 19 November 2007]: The Lessons Learned report was published on 11 October and copies are available in the Libraries of both Houses. The recommendations in the report have all been accepted and have already been adopted in our response to the current foot and mouth disease, bluetongue and avian influenza outbreaks.

Further to the debate in the House on 13 November, the hon. Gentleman is being sent a full breakdown of our response to each recommendation. Copies of this letter will also be made available in the Libraries of both Houses.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to make an assessment of the effectiveness of his Department's response to the (a) Essex A/H5N1 quarantine incident in 2005, (b) the Fife A/H5N1 incident in 2006, (c) the Norfolk A/H7N3 incident in 2006, (d) the Suffolk A/H5N1 incident in 2007, (e) the North Wales A/H7N2 incident in 2007 and (f) the Norfolk A/H5N1 incident in 2007. (166436)

DEFRA has robust and tested disease control plans and instructions in place to address an avian influenza outbreak. These are set out in our exotic animal disease generic contingency plan, which is available on the DEFRA website. These plans and procedures are kept under close review and have been used effectively to deal with all outbreaks of avian influenza.

We are committed to learning the lessons of all outbreaks. In October we published a Lessons Learned Report into the February H5N1 outbreak in poultry which concluded that our response was effective. The recommendations in the report have all been accepted and have already been adopted in our response to the current avian influenza, foot and mouth disease and bluetongue outbreaks.

We will continue to learn lessons from all exotic disease outbreaks and by applying them, continue to improve our response.