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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance in humans arising from the overuse of antibiotics on farms.

The Government takes a ‘One-Health’ approach to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as set out in the ‘UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2019 to 2024’, which is underpinned by the UK’s 20-year Vision to Contain and Control AMR by 2040. Defra is a co-signatory with the Department of Health and Social Care on the 5-year National Acton Plan (NAP) and 20-year vision on AMR, and Defra leads on delivering the animal, plant and environment elements. The AMR NAP lays out the UK Government’s commitment to reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals to reduce the risk of development and spread of AMR in animals and humans, while safeguarding animal health and welfare. A key component of this plan is to reduce the need for antibiotics, which is achieved through good farm management, biosecurity and disease prevention.

In the UK, we have a well-established antimicrobial use and resistance surveillance programme, which includes monitoring of sales and use of antibiotics in animals as well as routine monitoring of AMR in major food-producing species, healthy pigs and poultry. These surveillance programmes allow us to monitor progress and results are published every year in the UK Veterinary Antibiotic Resistance Sales and Surveillance (UK-VARSS) report.

The recently published UK-VARSS report shows that sales of antibiotics in food-producing animals are at their lowest ever level, with a 59% reduction since 2014. This highlights the success of the UK’s voluntary and collaborative approach between the Government and the farming and veterinary sectors to make sustainable reductions in antibiotic use while ensuring high animal health and welfare. The report also highlights that sales of highest priority, critically important antibiotics have reduced by 82% since 2014 and account for less than half a percent of total sales. This is to ensure that these medically important antibiotics are protected for use in humans.

The newly published third edition of the UK’s One Health report, a joint report from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the UK Health and Security Agency, brings together antibiotic use and resistance data for people and animals. Sales of antibiotics in 2019 show that approximately two thirds of antibiotics are used in people while one third are used in animals. This report demonstrates the Government’s One Health approach to tackling AMR to keep antibiotics working in both people and animals.

The UK is now in the process of developing the second five-year NAP, which will run from 2024-2029. This will build on progress made in the 2019-2024 NAP and set out challenging ambitions and actions for the next five years, which will set us on course for achieving our long-term national and international ambitions.