Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency regularly discuss capacity and capability to manage disease outbreaks at a variety of governance boards including the Outbreak Readiness Board and the Disease Emergency Response Committee.

APHA has dealt with multiple disease incidents in 7 of the last 10 years, including concurrent outbreaks of bluetongue and avian influenza since 2023.

In the Public Accounts Committee hearing on 4 September, Defra acknowledged that a category 5 outbreak would pose challenges and explained that there are contracts and agreements in place that would enable draw down of additional veterinary and administrative capacity.

Outbreak structures and governance are set out in the ‘Contingency Plan for Exotic Notifiable Diseases of Animals in England’ published on GOV.UK. This is reviewed annually.

Our priority is to secure a long-term UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement aimed at reducing trade barriers to enable the safe and efficient movement of goods, including zoo animals. As announced at the UK-EU Leaders’ Summit on 19 May 2025, the UK and EU have agreed to work towards a common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area. With the principles and framework of a deal agreed, we will now negotiate the detail of an agreement that reduces administrative burden by streamlining SPS checks and certification, while upholding the UK’s commitment to ensure its biosecurity is protected within this future framework.

The hon. Gentleman knows that I take this issue very seriously. I gently point out to him that this exact situation was pointed out by the National Audit Office during the last Parliament. The previous Government had 14 years to get the principles in place, so I will not take any lessons from the Conservatives. I can tell him that we have a £208 million investment this year; that is what was asked for. I can assure him that there will be funds in future, because we take biosecurity very seriously.

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.

We are reviewing the date for implementing specific post-Brexit border checks set out in the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) and will publish more information on these soon.

We continue to maintain essential border controls to protect our national biosecurity.

Defra will continue to monitor and review the impact of the new controls. We will work closely with industry, trade partners and enforcement agencies to minimise disruption and costs to trade, while continuing to protect our biosecurity.

The Port of Dover has a Border Control Post (BCP) designation for HRFFNAO only. All physical checks on plants take place at Sevington BCP.

There are currently no checks on animals at BCPs, these are continuing at destination.

Animals leaving GB will be checked at their point of entry into the EU or the Rest of the World country. The data provided is for animals detained following an inspection when entering GB for the period from 1 May 2022 to 31 May 2023.

Animals can be detained for the following reasons:

• Trade in Animals & Related Products Regulation (entering UK without correct documentation) – TARP
• Rabies Import Order 1974 (not complying with requirements of this Order in place to prevent rabies entering the UK) - RIO
• Welfare in Transport (unfit for travel due to ill health or pregnancy) -WIT

Dogs

Cats

The term smuggling (concealment) is not common and reflective of the type of non-compliances identified. Smuggled (concealed) consignments will normally be identified by UKBF and referred to the APHA Dover Team for our response.

The APHA team in Dover carry out both targeted and random inspections within Dover Port and in Coquelles, France (Eurotunnel), also covering Harwich and Newhaven Ports. Checks are carried out within a secure area of the Ports. At Dover, Harwich and Newhaven, checks are performed by APHA upon arrival into GB. For Eurotunnel checks must be performed within the control zones in Coquelles, France.

On an average day in 2023, 12 Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) staff are based at the Port of Dover working across 2 shifts. They also cover weekends, bank holidays and nights by on-call duty, responding to referrals from carriers or UK Border Force. Targeted checks are also performed outside of the routine shifts when information gathered suggest illegal landing(s) are suspected.

APHA have use of an office building within Dover Port. APHA share other facilities within each Port to complete inspections on vehicles. The inspection lanes and sheds are muti-agency facilities which APHA has full access of. APHA do not own any kennel facilities to detain non-compliant animals, these are provided by private businesses in the form of kennelling and APHA approved quarantines.

There is no data held on the total number of vehicles stopped and inspected in Dover, Eurotunnel, Harwich or Newhaven by the Dover APHA team.

Over the last 12 months, 218 vehicles have had 607 animals detained following an inspection by APHA at Dover Port, Eurotunnel or Harwich Port.

172 of the animals detained were for biosecurity contraventions – Rabies (Importation of, Dogs, Cats and Other Mammals) Order 1974. The remaining 435 were detained for other reasons including non-compliance under the Welfare of Animals (transport) (England) order 2006 and Trade in Animals and Related Products Regulations 2011.

55 animals (out of the 607) were detained for true smuggling (concealment).

No vehicles have been detained by APHA. APHA powers do not allow vehicles to be detained / seized.

The inspections that take place at Dover, as well as other UK ports, are part of a broader end to end risk and or intelligence based import regime including official veterinary certification from exporting countries, Welfare in Transport Regulations and other regulatory frameworks that are used to manage biosecurity risks and the welfare of animals entering the country. These regulatory frameworks are based on current risk levels and can change if disease risk levels change.

The Government is committed to the strongest possible standards of protection against animal diseases. It is investing £1.4 billion (including £200 million in this Spending Review period) to secure the long-term future of the Weybridge facility. This substantial investment recognises the essential role of this laboratory, and will enable its excellent scientists to continue to protect the country, boosting our resilience and strengthening our understanding of health risks to, and from, animals and plants.

The Government launched a consultation on 21 August on our proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets (cats, dogs and ferrets) into Great Britain, including our proposal to ban the commercial and non-commercial movement of puppies under the age of six months into Great Britain. We will take into account the views of the public and will continue to work closely with stakeholders to ensure that our final measures are well considered and are guided by the latest evidence.

Defra has no immediate plans to change the import health requirements in relation to rabies for pets entering Great Britain. Recent quantitative risk assessments have concluded that the risk of a pet animal with rabies entering the UK under the pet travel rules is very low. Defra continues to monitor the disease situation carefully and our future policy will be guided by risk assessment.

The Government launched a consultation on 21 August on our proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets (cats, dogs and ferrets) into Great Britain, including our proposal to ban the commercial and non-commercial movement of puppies under the age of six months into Great Britain. We will take into account the views of the public and will continue to work closely with stakeholders to ensure that our final measures are well considered and are guided by the latest evidence.

Defra has no immediate plans to change the import health requirements in relation to rabies for pets entering Great Britain. Recent quantitative risk assessments have concluded that the risk of a pet animal with rabies entering the UK under the pet travel rules is very low. Defra continues to monitor the disease situation carefully and our future policy will be guided by risk assessment.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, and I do see the point he makes. As he knows, the focus has been on dogs and other pets that we keep in the home, but I am happy to speak to colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and to get back to him about what we think of his suggestion.

Tick surveillance has shown that tick distribution and abundance is changing throughout the UK for many reasons, including habitat and climate change. Small numbers of localised infestations with non-native tick species have been reported in recent years. For these reasons, Defra strongly encourages pet owners to treat their pets to safeguard their animals against ticks and tick-transmitted diseases when travelling abroad.

Defra has no immediate plans to amend the tick controls for dogs, cats or ferrets entering into Great Britain. However, we remain aware of the concerns around ticks and tick-borne disease, and future policy will be guided by risk assessment.

There are no plans to introduce tick treatment to imports of other small animals.

Defra has no immediate plans to amend the tapeworm requirements for dogs, cats and ferrets entering Great Britain. However, we remain aware of the concerns around tapeworm and our future policy will be guided by risk assessment.

There are no plans to introduce tapeworm treatment to imports of other small animals.

The number of live animals imported from Northern Ireland to Great Britain from January 2020 to February 2021 are as follows:

This data was extracted from the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES). TRACES is a European Commission system employed by EU member states to facilitate and record animal/animal product movements into and throughout the EU.

This response has been compiled by the Animal and Plant Health Agency from data provided by third parties, and as such is reliant on the providers for the accuracy of the information.

The data is correct according to APHA records. However, APHA is now receiving an increased number of Importer Notifications that do not specify country of origin of the consignment. This may account in the reduction of figures for January and February.

The number of live animals exported from the UK to the EU from January 2020 to February 2021 are as follows:

This data was extracted from the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES). TRACES is a European Commission system employed by EU member states to facilitate and record animal/animal product movements into and throughout the EU.

This response has been compiled by the Animal and Plant Health Agency from data provided by third parties, and as such is reliant on the providers for the accuracy of the information.

There are no records of individual animal numbers travelling from the UK to the EU for 2021.

EHC Online does have a section for APHA to note the total number of animals exported, but as we have changed the requirement for certified copies to be returned, this information can only be captured for livestock and camelids.

Export Health Certification issued using the new EHC Online service contains a module for Certifying Officers (CO) to record when they have approved, rejected or cancelled a certificate. As a result, APHA no longer routinely require COs to return certified copies of EHC to APHA. APHA can no longer provide data on the exact number of live animals being exported from Great Britain to the EU.

The EHC Online service was enhanced in February 2021 to include an area for APHA to record the total number of animals exported on an EHC, but this data field will only be completed by APHA for exports of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and camelids where there remains a requirement for the return of a certified copy of the EHC. The return of certified copies of these EHCs remains due to legislative requirements for the UK to trace and report the export of animals form a holding where a disease outbreak has occurred post-export.

The number of live animals imported from the EU to the UK from January 2020 to February 2021 are as follows:

This data was extracted from the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES). TRACES is a European Commission system employed by EU member states to facilitate and record animal/animal product movements into and throughout the EU.

This response has been compiled by the Animal and Plant Health Agency from data provided by third parties, and as such is reliant on the providers for the accuracy of the information.