Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the measures in place to protect against Equine Herpes Virus-1 outbreaks in the UK.

The Government is working closely with the equine sector to ensure owners are aware of the risks and are taking the necessary precautions to keep their animals safe. Equine Herpes Virus (EHV) is not a notifiable disease and isolation of sick animals is the best protection against infection. There is no public health risk. Horse owners are advised to contact their private vet if they observe any respiratory illness, abortion or neurological signs in horses or ponies in their care or would like to discuss options for vaccination against the disease.

All horses imported into the UK are required to be certified as being fit to travel and not to have originated from premises where disease is known to be present. Any horses imported into the UK should be placed in isolation for at least ten days before allowing them to mix with other equines.

Comprehensive industry advice and guidance on biosecurity and vaccination is available online and the Animal and Plant Health Agency international trade team is, on behalf of Defra, writing to anyone wishing to import any equine from Europe to remind them of this guidance and strongly recommend that it is followed.

Current biosecurity protocols and guidance are known to be effective at controlling the spread of EHV-1 and have been successful in preventing its spread into the UK during the current outbreak. We continue to work with and support the industry in containing the threat to the UK horse population.