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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to mitigate the effects of bird flu in (a) Brighton and Hove and (b) East Sussex.

Effective animal disease control is one of Defra’s key priorities. Defra’s approach is set out in the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain. Following the confirmation of avian influenza in poultry at a premises near Bexhill-on-Sea, Rother, East Sussex and in other captive birds at a premises near Guestling Green, Rother, East Sussex, disease control zones were put in place surrounding the premises. To limit the risk of further spread of the disease, all birds on the infected premises have been humanely culled and preliminary cleansing and disinfection at premises undertaken by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). Restrictions on the movement of birds and things associated with their keeping apply to other premises within the disease control zones where either poultry or other captive birds are kept. The disease control zones will remain in force until all disease control and surveillance activities are successfully completed within the zones.

In addition, an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) remains in force across Great Britain. This means it is a legal requirement for all bird keepers (whether they have pet birds, commercial flocks or just a few birds in a backyard flock) to follow strict biosecurity measures in order to limit the spread of and eradicate the disease.

Great Britain faces a seasonal risk of avian influenza incursion associated with migratory wild birds which can then spread to other local sedentary wild bird species and/or other kept birds. The APHA carries out year-round avian influenza surveillance of dead wild birds submitted via public reports and warden patrols across Great Britain on behalf of Defra, the Welsh Government and the Scottish Government. A number of herring gulls and greylag geese submitted to the surveillance programme from the Brighton and Hove and East Sussex areas have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 during the 2021/2022 avian influenza outbreak.

Defra together with APHA and Natural England are working closely with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and other NGOs including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the British Trust for Ornithology to monitor the effect of avian influenza on wild bird species of conservation concern.