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 has taken to expand testing capacity for the bluetongue virus.

All diagnostic testing for bluetongue virus is conducted at the bluetongue national reference laboratory at The Pirbright Institute. Current testing capacity is sufficient to meet the demands for disease control and movement testing. Nevertheless, Pirbright has the provisions to expand its testing capacity, if required, to meet higher demand.

The Official Laboratory in Weybridge is also designated by Defra for the purpose of surveillance and post-movement tests for bluetongue if required which provides additional capacity.