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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether, and if so to what extent, they provide direct financial support for the development of veterinary clinical skill laboratories in low- and middle-income countries to strengthen animal health systems.

While we do not provide direct financial support for the development of veterinary clinical skill laboratories in low- and middle-income countries, we proactively support country and regional partners with Official Development Assistance funding to strengthen health systems, including through our £5m Animal Health Systems Strengthening Project, which is providing technical assistance and other capability-building to veterinary services in Africa.

In addition, and to ensure the UK effectively drives better and sustainable health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries, our world-class laboratories are actively involved in delivering global health outreach programmes, including laboratory twinning projects to build diagnostic capability for the surveillance and detection of animal diseases.

We have also developed and delivered e-learning modules for over 200 veterinary professionals and paraprofessionals working in low- and middle-income countries to build skills in laboratory diagnostics, surveillance strategies, pandemic preparedness training, epidemiology, and veterinary medicine residue surveillance.

All UK Aid spend is published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office as Statistics on International Development, and is available at GOV.UK.