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

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ban the use of fluoroquinolone antibiotics for prophylactic and metaphylactic use in British poultry farming, with a view to limiting antimicrobial resistance.

The UK Government is committed to reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals, while safeguarding animal welfare. It has been our position for many years that we do not support the routine or predictable use of antibiotics, including where antibiotics are used to compensate for inadequate farming practices. This applies to all types of antibiotic use (i.e those prescribed for treatment, metaphylactic purposes and for prophylactic purposes) because any antibiotic use may lead to an increased risk of resistance.

The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 are currently under review and the UK Government’s proposed new legal restrictions will prohibit antibiotic prophylaxis, in all but exceptional circumstances, in order to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use while also protecting animal welfare, and allowing changes to prescribing practices to be made sustainably. A public consultation on the proposed changes was held earlier this year, feedback is currently being analysed and considered, and a government response will be published in due course.

Highest Priority Critically Important Antibiotics for human use (which include fluoroquinolones) should only be used in animals as a last resort when no other antibiotics could be clinically effective and, wherever possible, based on antimicrobial susceptibility testing.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate works closely with the British Poultry Council (BPC), an industry group which represents 90% of the meat poultry sector in the UK, on its antimicrobial stewardship efforts to replace, reduce and refine antibiotic use, by supporting good animal husbandry, hygiene and stockmanship. The BPC has a requirement that fluoroquinolones are only used as a last resort after alternative options have been explored. These actions have led to a 96% reduction in fluroquinolone use in meat poultry between 2014 and 2021, with fluoroquinolones representing just 0.3% of total antibiotic use in 2021.

Furthermore, when considering laying hens, antibiotic use data collected by the British Egg Industry Council, and representing 90% of the industry, has demonstrated no fluoroquinolone use since 2017.