Shadow DEFRA Minister Dr Neil Hudson has provided his reaction to alarming findings in the National Audit Office’s (NAO’s) “Resilience to Animal Diseases” Report, urging the Government to take immediate action on its findings.
The report, released by the NAO this week, produced an in-depth analysis of the current landscape in the UK concerning the Government’s current approach to being resilient to outbreaks of animal disease, and our ability to respond to outbreaks.
The report’s findings demonstrated some worrying conclusions, particularly that there is no long-term strategy or plan to meet Government objectives on animal disease resilience, and that the heart of UK biosecurity, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) Headquarters, is in desperate need of full funding for a rebuild, with there being no contingency plan for biosecurity should the building fail without it.
The previous Government in 2020 committed £1.2billion of the £2.8billion identified as necessary for the rebuild, but the current Government have so far only provided around an additional £208 million since July 2024, leaving a remaining shortfall of nearly £1.4billion.
The immediate need to shore up UK biosecurity is not a new warning from the veterinary MP issued to the Government, having been raised consistently by Dr Neil Hudson in Parliament. He has directly demanded to Ministers that they fully fund a rebuild of the Animal and Plant Health Agency Headquarters no less than thirteen times in the House of Commons since the General Election, as well as submitting written questions on that commitment and biosecurity more broadly.
He also wrote in the Daily Express ahead of the Autumn Budget 2024 to urge the Chancellor to fund the APHA’s full rebuild and continues to urge the Chancellor to make this a priority in her upcoming Spending Review next week.
He even led a delegation on a visit to the APHA Headquarters as part of the previous Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, on which he sat.
As Dr Hudson has consistently highlighted to ministers, Bluetongue, Avian Influenza and Bovine TB are still a major concern here in the UK amidst consistent outbreaks of these in the last few years, which is only further worsened by the international picture of animal disease threats that make rigorous biosecurity even more critical. Europe has seen Foot and Mouth outbreaks this year in Germany, Hungary and Slovakia and the advance of African Swine Fever up the continent. This requires the Government to urgently step up to support this critical national infrastructure for UK biosecurity and the agricultural sectors.
Commenting on the findings of the National Audit Office report, Dr Hudson said:
“The National Audit Office’s report is startling, and starkly demonstrates the Government are asleep on the job when it comes to UK biosecurity.
Animal disease outbreaks can take a truly devastating toll on communities’ livelihoods, welfare and mental health, which I have seen first-hand in the frontline as a vet during the 2001 Foot and Mouth Outbreak, witnessing sights I never want to see again in my lifetime.
The economic impact is something we also absolutely cannot ignore, with that 2001 Crisis costing the public and private sectors £13.8billion combined, by 2023-24 prices.
With Avian Influenza, Bluetongue virus and Bovine TB very much with us in the UK, and Foot and Mouth and African Swine Fever on the European continent, the Government must wake up, and wake up now. The Spending Review next week is the first opportunity to do just that, and the Chancellor must commit to the full rebuild of the APHA Headquarters in Weybridge as an urgent national security priority.
I will not stop reminding the Government of the looming crisis that could occur if our biosecurity infrastructure is not fit and ready to respond to the threats of animal disease outbreaks. Our economy, animal and human health and welfare, and farming communities depend on it.”
You can see some of Dr Hudson’s past activity in this area at the following link:
Dr Hudson’s visit to the APHA Headquarters: https://www.neilhudson.org.uk/news/veterinary-mp-dr-neil-hudson-leads-parliamentary-delegation-uk-biosecurity-hub
Dr Hudson’s article in the Daily Express: https://www.neilhudson.org.uk/news/dr-neil-hudson-writes-daily-express-urging-chancellor-properly-fund-uks-biosecurity-ahead
Dr Hudson’s previous Parliamentary interventions:
