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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs of Northern Ireland on the recent lifting of quarantine due to avian influenza.

Disease control is a devolved matter, and it is for the devolved administrations to assess their disease risks and respond accordingly. However, for animal disease threats, each of the four UK administrations are an integral part of the decision-making process and officials from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs of Northern Ireland meet regularly with their counterparts in Defra, Welsh Government and Scottish Government where topics such as the Avian influenza prevention zones and the lifting of housing measures are discussed and the impact on the UK administrations considered. Representatives including the Chief Veterinary Officers from each devolved administration also sit on the Animal Disease Policy Group, a UK wide policy decision making group. This helps to drive a flexible and coordinated response. The UK contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals explains how the administrations work together in responding to an outbreak at a UK level.