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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what strategies his Department has in place to help prevent high rates of infection of avian flu among commercial bid populations in the next ten years.

Effective animal disease control is a top priority and the Department has a strong track record of controlling and eliminating outbreaks in the UK, working with industry, the wider veterinary community, and key delivery bodies such as the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).

Defra’s approach to the control of avian influenza is set out in the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain and our tried and tested Contingency Plan for Exotic Notifiable Diseases of Animals in England. The assessment of risk drives the UK’s approach to biosecurity and disease control as it enables us effectively to identify, detect and respond to threats.