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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of resources in the (a) Animal Health and Plant Agency to respond to multiple exotic disease outbreaks and (b) Food Standards Agency to respond to safety risks associated with imported food.

a) The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) constantly review resource allocation and the Secretary of State is briefed on the Agency’s preparedness for multiple disease outbreaks. Recognising the impact of persistent incursions of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 into the UK, additional funding has been made available this year to APHA to ensure it has the resources needed to deliver against the increased demands HPAI has placed on it.

(b) While the Food Standards Agency is responsible for imported food safety policy, responsibility for the delivery of border controls for imported food rests with Plant Health Agencies, which are the relevant competent authorities. As such they are responsible for ensuring adequate resources are in place to carry out this function at a local level.