DEFRA are fully aware of the need for close collaboration between the veterinary and medical profession in preventing and controlling transmission of diseases between humans and animals. Officials continue to collaborate with their counterparts in the Department of Health, the Health Protection Agency and the devolved Administrations regular inter-departmental meetings are held to assess the risk from diseases, as well as from newly emerging conditions, which might have the potential for inter-species transmission. There is also strong collaboration at the local level where joint assessments and co-ordinated veterinary and medical investigations of disease outbreaks are made.