Tuesday 24th May 2022

(2 years, 6 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Benyon Portrait Lord Benyon (Con)
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The noble Baroness is absolutely right to point out the impact of kept animals in passing on zoonotic disease. Trying to make our borders secure is absolutely vital, and I will get back to her about this issue because the Government still intend to include measures to prevent people keeping the wrong kind of pets in this country. It is wrong for the pets because our climate is not right for them, and we must also consider their welfare conditions.

Earl of Caithness Portrait The Earl of Caithness (Con)
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My Lords, could my noble friend say a little bit more about the “global network” in the Question?

Lord Benyon Portrait Lord Benyon (Con)
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We are supporting something called the Quadripartite MoU for One Health, which includes the OIE, the WHO, the FAO and UNEP—apologies again for the acronyms. That is part of what we are doing to participate in measures to address the surveillance issues, so that we know about diseases sooner and can react to them, and it is part of the response which we in the UK, as has been already pointed out, are particularly skilled at providing. There are a number of other international bodies of which we are a part.