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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has been made of out of hours environment agency staff to respond to blue tongue virus reports.

Responsibility for responding to reports of bluetongue virus rests with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). Where required, the Environment Agency (EA) supports APHA on regulatory, waste management and pollution prevention issues, including ensuring that any waste arising from disease control activities is managed in accordance with the law. The EA maintains a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week incident response capability across England, enabling timely response to incidents that present serious or significant risks to the environment.