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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of updating regulations under existing legislation to regulate use of antibiotics on farms.

The UK Government remains committed to reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals while safeguarding animal welfare.

Changes to the law on veterinary medicines is one of the tools which can be used to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing in animals and, as one element of a programme of interventions to help deliver the UK's 5-year national action plan, it is our intention to strengthen our national law in this area.

The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 (VMR) set out the controls on the production, distribution, possession, dispensing and administration of veterinary medicines in Great Britain. Over the past year the Veterinary Medicines Directorate has engaged in a comprehensive dialogue with stakeholders about a broad range of changes that we propose to the VMR including new measures to help tackle anti-microbial resistance.

We are now preparing to publish a formal consultation paper setting out our proposals which will provide the opportunity for all affected stakeholders to express their views. Following the public consultation, we anticipate laying new legislation in 2023.