Avian Influenza: Disease Control

(asked on 16th January 2025) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support his Department is providing to (a) poultry farmers and (b) wildlife conservation groups to help contain the spread of avian influenza.


Answered by
Daniel Zeichner Portrait
Daniel Zeichner
Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 24th January 2025

Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency have stood up their well-established outbreak structures to control and eradicate highly pathogenic avian influenza, restore normal trade, and assist local communities’ recovery as set out in the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain and the Mitigation Strategy for Avian Influenza in Wild Birds in England and Wales.

All registered bird keepers receive regular updates and guidance to help protect their birds from avian influenza. Biosecurity guidance and self-assessment checklists are available on each of the UK administration’s websites to assist bird keepers in maintaining good biosecurity and complying with the requirements of disease control and preventions zones.

The Mitigation Strategy provides guidance to wildlife trusts, conservation charities and other organisations on how to respond to findings of avian influenza in wild birds. It sets out how these groups, together with the government and its delivery partners, can mitigate the impact of avian influenza on wild bird populations whilst protecting public health, the wider environment and the rural economy.

Whilst disease control is a devolved matter, Defra and the Devolved Governments work closely together with the aim of providing, where possible, a consistent and coordinated response to disease threats.

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