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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential risk to the health of birds from avian influenza (H5N1) in Fylde constituency.

The risk of HPAI H5 in wild birds in Great Britain has recently escalated from high to very high (event occurs almost certainly). The risk of poultry exposure to HPAI H5 in Great Britain is assessed as very high (event occurs almost certainly) where there is suboptimal or poor biosecurity and Medium (event occurs regularly) where stringent biosecurity is consistently applied at all times.

All exotic disease control and prevention measures are kept under regular review as part of the Government’s work to monitor and manage the risks of exotic disease.

Risk levels are being kept under regular review.

Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) mandating enhanced biosecurity and, for keepers of over 50 birds, housing is in force across the whole of England, including the Flyde constituency - to mitigate the risk of further outbreaks of the disease.