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Foot and Mouth Disease and Bluetongue

My Lords, with permission, I should like to repeat a Statement made another place by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on this summer’s outbreak of foot and mouth disease and on bluetongue. ““On 3 August, foot and mouth disease was confirmed in Surrey. In line with the contingency plan, control measures, including a national ban on the movement of susceptible animals, were put in place immediately. The following day, the strain of virus was confirmed as 01-BFS-67. As that strain was not currently circulating in animals, that pointed to the Pirbright laboratory site as a potential source. I therefore commissioned the Health and Safety Executive to investigate the potential release from the site, and Professor Brian Spratt to lead a team of experts in a review of biosecurity arrangements. I am today placing in the Library a copy of those two reports, along with all of the Defra epidemiology reports. ““It cannot be said with complete certainty exactly how the virus escaped from the Pirbright site. However, the reports concluded that the most likely route was accidental release from the drainage system. Whatever the route of escape, it should not have happened and we are determined that it does not happen again. I have accepted all of the recommendations in the reports from the HSE and Professor Spratt, and I have called for a review of the regulatory framework for handling animal pathogens led by Sir Bill Callaghan. ““A rigorous improvement plan has been developed for the Pirbright site to be implemented before full operations with live virus can recommence and a review, led by BBSRC, is assessing the funding, governance and risk management at Institute for Animal Health. In addition, a safety alert has been issued to all animal pathogen category 3 and 4 laboratories, which will be followed by a round of inspections. Epidemiological surveillance indicated that it was highly unlikely that the virus had spread outside the Surrey area. Therefore, given that this surveillance went well beyond the European Union requirement; that the 30-day minimum time had elapsed; and that no further cases had been identified, the protection and surveillance the zones were lifted on 8 September. ““Unfortunately, as we now know, there was undetected infection outside the surveillance zone and on 12 September foot and mouth disease was confirmed in a third case in Surrey and controls reimposed. There have now been eight infected premises in total. ““On 25 September, given that the disease was confined to Surrey, we created two foot and mouth areas in Great Britain, a temporary risk area in south-east England and a lower risk area in the rest of the country where certain movements were permitted under licence. Markets reopened in the low-risk area last Thursday and on a visit to Skipton market I was able to see the difference this will make to the farming industry. ““The European Union has now confirmed that the export of meat can resume this Friday, 12 October, from Scotland, Wales, and the north and south-west of England. We will continue to work with the Commission to increase the areas from which exports can occur. ““Working in partnership with the farming community has been an integral part of our approach to responding to this outbreak and I have listened to the views of industry about what further steps can be taken to alleviate very real economic and welfare pressures. ““Because this outbreak has arisen from an unusual set of circumstances, I am announcing today a package of assistance for the English livestock sector, amounting to £12.5 million. The devolved Administrations are proposing to introduce their own schemes. ““Subject to the European Union state-aid rules, I intend to make the following available to the farmers most affected. There will be £8.5 million of assistance to hill farmers, who have been particularly hard-hit. This one-off payment will be paid directly to them using the system we already have in place for the hill farm allowance and will be equivalent to just over 30 per cent of their 2007 payment. There will be an increase in the level of subsidy for the fallen stock scheme for farmers in the foot and mouth risk area from 10 per cent to 100 per cent. This will not apply to only existing members of the scheme, but will be available to all livestock keepers in the risk area. It will apply to stock which have had to be killed on farm for welfare or other reasons. I anticipate the cost being less than £1 million. There will be an additional contribution of up to £1 million to the Arthur Rank Centre for disbursement to Farming Help charities. These charities focus on providing advice and practical and emotional support for farming families. ““The final package is £2 million for the promotion and marketing of lamb, beef and pork domestically and in our export markets. The public sector is a major purchaser of meat and I am asking ministerial colleagues to increase opportunities for small and local producers to tender for their business. ““We are also determined to do as much as possible to reduce the burden of red tape on farmers at this difficult time. Therefore, I have agreed for a delay from 5 January 2008 to the end of April 2008 in enforcing the requirement for livestock hauliers to have a certificate of competence for non-export journeys more than 65 kilometres; to seek a derogation from the Commission for grassland farmers to apply above the annual nitrogen application limit of 170 kilograms per hectare, which is one of the requirements for farmers in nitrate-vulnerable zones; and for a one month extension until 13 December for the closing date of the current consultation on the implementation of the nitrates directive. ““In addition, I would like to draw to the attention of the House to the fact that Natural England and the Rural Payments Agency are not enforcing certain cross-compliance requirements for agricultural environment schemes and the single farm payment where breaches of those requirements are caused directly by restrictions relating to foot and mouth or bluetongue. The Secretary of State for Transport announced last week that to assist movement of the backlog of animals the rules on drivers’ hours for livestock hauliers would be relaxed for a limited period as markets reopened. ““I also welcome the decision by the European Union on 3 October to raise the age at which the vertebral column of cattle is considered specified risk material from 24 to 30 months, which will facilitate the sale from butchers of beef from animals in this age bracket. This decision is subject to a three-month scrutiny period by the European Parliament. In the mean time, the Food Standards Agency will be undertaking a public consultation. ““As if an outbreak of foot and mouth was not enough, on 22 September the first case of bluetongue was found in East Anglia. Bluetongue is very different from foot and mouth disease. It is spread by midges, rather than animal to animal, and we cannot stamp it out by slaughtering infected animals. However, the cases we have seen so far are in a limited geographical area and seem to result from midges being carried over the North Sea on the wind. As this happened in August when movement controls were in place because of foot and mouth disease, this may help to control the spread. By 28 September, the increase in cases indicated that the disease was circulating in our midge population and we confirmed the presence of bluetongue in Great Britain. The bluetongue temporary area was therefore replaced with a control zone and a protection zone. ““A clear understanding of the spread of the disease is now crucial to help the industry, with the support of government, to anticipate what may happen and what the appropriate response would be. This requires farmers in the zones to be vigilant and for the sake of their industry to report all new cases so that we can monitor whether this spread is occurring. We will keep this approach under review with the industry, not least because the effects of bluetongue movement controls mean that decisions on control should be taken by the industry and not just by Ministers. ““This has been an exceptionally difficult summer for the farming industry. I know from talking to many farmers and their representatives over the summer just how hard and distressing it has been, and still is, and I am grateful to the industry for its forbearance and support. I would also like to express my thanks to all those people from Defra, the Animal Health Agency and elsewhere whose professionalism, dedication and commitment has helped us to deal with these outbreaks, and I am sure that the House will wish to express its thanks too. I will of course keep the House informed of developments””. My Lords, that concludes the Statement.