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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she is taking steps to help reduce the presence of antimicrobial-resistant superbugs originating from industrial farms in water courses.

Antimicrobial usage (AMU) is a key driver influencing the occurrence and emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The degree of intensification of farm production systems can have a bearing on AMU, but that is not necessarily the case. Intensive production systems can involve high health status livestock with high biosecurity to prevent entry of disease and consequently can have low AMU. The extent of risk that Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) presents in the water environment is still being determined. A cross-departmental project called Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food and the Environment (PATH-SAFE) was established in 2021 to strengthen our understanding of AMR in the environment, including the relative importance of different sources and potential transmission routes. Final results of this project are expected to be published later this year.

To date in the UK, collaborative working between government, the veterinary profession and the agriculture sectors has already resulted in our national sales of veterinary antibiotics reducing by 55% since 2014, and in 2021 we recorded the lowest antibiotic use yet. Over this same period the UK have seen overall trend of decreasing antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from animals. The significant achievements of the UK farming industry to reduce their antibiotic use supports the government’s ‘One-Health’ approach to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as set out in the UK National Action Plan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR).