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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to hold discussions with the Animal and Plant Health Agency on their ability to respond to category five animal disease outbreaks.

Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency regularly discuss capacity and capability to manage disease outbreaks at a variety of governance boards including the Outbreak Readiness Board and the Disease Emergency Response Committee.

APHA has dealt with multiple disease incidents in 7 of the last 10 years, including concurrent outbreaks of bluetongue and avian influenza since 2023.

In the Public Accounts Committee hearing on 4 September, Defra acknowledged that a category 5 outbreak would pose challenges and explained that there are contracts and agreements in place that would enable draw down of additional veterinary and administrative capacity.

Outbreak structures and governance are set out in the ‘Contingency Plan for Exotic Notifiable Diseases of Animals in England’ published on GOV.UK. This is reviewed annually.