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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help improve resilience of the poultry meat industry’s supply chain.

The British poultry sector is highly resilient and plays a significant role in the production of high-quality poultry meat. It operates in an open market and the value of commodities is established by those in the supply chain.

The Government continues to work closely with the poultry industry to tackle the recent unprecedented outbreak on Avian Influenza (AI). This includes work on improving on-farm biosecurity and a consideration of vaccination.

On 28 October 2022 we announced changes to the AI compensation scheme, allowing compensation to be paid to farmers from the outset of planned AI culling rather than at the end, and a relaxation to the enforcement of marketing rules allowing the sale of defrosted turkeys, geese and ducks between 28 November and 31 December 2022.

In 2023 and 2024 the poultry sector will continue to be able to access 2,000 seasonal worker visas to meet the pre-Christmas surge in demand for poultry workers.