Written question asked by Neil Hudson (Conservative) on Tuesday, 10 June 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 13 June 2025 (named day). It was answered by Daniel Zeichner (Labour) on Friday, 13 June 2025 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Animals: Disease Control

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the report by the National Audit Office entitled Resilience to Animal Diseases, published on 4 June 2025, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the UK's preparedness to respond to a major animal disease outbreak.

Answer: Defra and APHA actively assisted the National Audit Office in the collation of the data and information used to inform their report and will carefully work through the findings and recommendations to inform a plan for improvement. The National Audit Office will monitor progress against the recommendations at approximately 6 monthly intervals and we look forward to working with them on this. We are committed to improving biosecurity and resilience to animal diseases.

Secondary information