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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to further international collaboration relating to research on avian flu.

Defra continues to invest in avian influenza research and monitors the situation in Europe and globally. Defra funds research directly or by leveraging funding through UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), a Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)-funded non-governmental public body of which the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is a research council partner. In the last five years, £4.3 million has been invested in research, funded through BBSRC, either solely focussed on avian influenza, or as part of wider projects for poultry disease control.

In addition to supporting international collaboration through specific research projects, such as DeltaFlu, international collaboration and knowledge exchange is facilitated through discussions between the UK Chief Veterinary Officer and representatives from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) avian influenza national and international reference laboratories, and their counterparts in the EU and globally through the World Organisation for Animal Health and allied projects. Including through the joint WOAH-FOA Scientific Network on animal influenza OFFLU.

Collaborations include those through the STAR-IDAZ International Research Consortium on Animal Health which is run by a partnership including Defra, BBSRC, WOAH, CAB International and Kreavet BV. STAR-IDAZ is a global initiative aiming to coordinate research programmes at the international level and to contribute to the development of new and improved animal health strategies for priority diseases, infections and issues, including avian influenza.