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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of African swine fever on the pig industry.

Whilst we have never had an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in the UK, the risk level for an incursion of ASF is currently assessed as medium and we continue to prepare for an outbreak.

The practical impacts of a reasonable worst-case scenario outbreak of ASF were assessed in 2023 for the National Risk Register which is available on gov.uk.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) monitors the spread of ASF internationally and regularly publishes assessments of the risk posed to Great Britain. The latest assessment (published in June 2024) can be found as part of APHA's Animal diseases: international and UK monitoring collection on gov.uk. These assessments are used to review, and strengthen where necessary, measures to prevent ASF reaching the UK.