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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s capacity to effectively tackle the spread of bluetongue virus.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) leads Government action on animal disease control and has outbreak response plans, supported by the bluetongue virus (BTV) national reference laboratory at The Pirbright Institute. Response times are kept under regular review between Defra, Welsh Government, Scottish Government and APHA and appropriate action initiated where additional operational support is required.

Defra’s disease control measures aim to limit the spread of BTV infection through proportionate and evidence-based control measures, whilst balancing the burdens of controls against the benefits of eradication of bluetongue and minimising the cost of any outbreak both to government and farmers.