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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help farmers prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease.

Following confirmation of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Germany on the 10 January 2025, the Government took decisive action to protect the UK by suspending the commercial import of susceptible animals from Germany and restricting personal imports of animal products from across the EU.

The UK has contingency plans in place to manage the risk of this disease as set out in the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain supported by the Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England. This includes a comprehensive veterinary surveillance system to detect new and emerging disease threats. All exotic disease control and prevention measures are kept under regular review as part of the Government’s work to monitor and manage the risks of exotic disease.

Livestock keepers are reminded of the importance of maintaining strict on-farm biosecurity and reporting of all suspicions of notifiable disease promptly.