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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has plans to support a reduction in the use of antibiotics in the farming industry to reduce the risk of anti-microbial resistance.

In 2013 the Government published its Five-Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy, which aimed to improve the stewardship of existing antibiotics, improve infection prevention and control, and optimise prescribing practice.

In 2016, as part of the Government’s response to the Independent Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, Defra committed to reduce sales of antibiotics for use in livestock by 20% to 50mg/kg by 2018. This target was met two years early. The latest data from 2016 shows that sales had fallen to 45mg/kg.

Defra continues to work with the livestock industry to implement the ambitious sector specific targets published in October 2017 to promote further reduction in antibiotic use, underpinned by improvements in biosecurity, husbandry practices and disease prevention.