In a damning report printed right this moment, the Nationwide Audit Workplace finds that Defra and the Animal and Plant Well being Company (APHA) are insufficiently ready for a serious animal illness outbreak and would probably battle to deal with one.
The report is printed amid rising concern concerning the UK’s border controls, as probably devastating ailments, African swine fever and foot-and-mouth illness flow into in Europe and pose an rising risk.
The NAO identified that elements resembling local weather change and antimicrobial resistance imply illness outbreaks are more and more frequent and livestock extra weak, however mentioned authorities lacks a technique and motion plan for enhancing resilience to animal ailments.
Previous animal illness outbreaks have had vital financial impacts. For instance, the 2001 FMD outbreak price the private and non-private sectors an estimated £13.8 billion (in 2023-24 costs), whereas latest outbreaks of extremely pathogenic fowl flu have resulted in 7.2 million birds being culled between November 2020 and mid-March 2025.
The report acknowledges that Defra and APHA have labored arduous to handle latest medium-severity outbreaks, however finds a variety of challenges resulting in them being insufficiently ready for a extra extreme outbreak. These embody:
- Important gaps in authorities contingency plans.
- Outdated and inefficient operational processes inside APHA.
- Outdated infrastructure, significantly regarding the federal government’s animal science facility at Weybridge. Defra’s programme to redevelop Weybridge is now on monitor however won’t be accomplished for one more 10 years.
- No complete livestock motion tracing system, regardless of makes an attempt to determine one starting in 2013.
- Capability and expertise shortages – for instance, APHA’s vet emptiness fee in April 2025 was 20%.
Biosecurity threats
Defra and APHA have launched initiatives to strengthen resilience, such because the Animal Well being and Welfare Pathway, which offers funding to help enhancements in animal well being on farms, and analysis and innovation to enhance detection and response to illness.
Nonetheless, progress is being undermined by world points with provide of animal vaccines and vital threats to biosecurity on the border, it says. Defra’s finest estimate for the proportion of reside animal imports from the EU and the remainder of the world presently present process bodily checks is 5%, towards a authorities goal of 100% at border management posts by the tip of 2024.
Defra and APHA have a superb understanding of recent and rising dangers from animal ailments, a core precept of resilience. They’ve sturdy preparations in place to collect intelligence on animal illness dangers by means of ‘horizon scanning’ and worldwide illness monitoring. APHA additionally conducts surveillance, testing and inspections of premises to assist detect infections early and cease their unfold, the report notes.
But it surely says responding to more and more frequent outbreaks has affected Defra’s and APHA’s potential to undertake different necessary work that may assist strengthen resilience in the long run. Their present method, the place employees change precedence from business-as-usual actions to outbreak response, is unlikely to be match for function if they’re in nearly fixed outbreak mode.
Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, mentioned: “Defra has assessed that the chance of an outbreak to which it might be unable to reply successfully is above the extent it considers tolerable, however it has not decided a approach to cut back this threat. A protracted-term technique and motion plan are urgently wanted, to guard nationwide financial resilience in addition to meals safety, human well being and rural communities.”
Defra response
Biosecurity Minister Baroness Hayman mentioned: “This Authorities’s dedication to sustaining the nation’s biosecurity within the face of the mounting dangers of illness is unwavering – we’ll do no matter it takes to guard our farmers and economic system.
“We took quick motion to ban private imports of meat and dairy from Europe after a wave of foot and mouth circumstances on the continent and, after years of underinvestment, we’re investing £200 million into a brand new Nationwide Biosecurity Centre.”
Defra mentioned the nation’s struggle towards animal illness has bolstered by a £200 million pound funding in APHA’s laboratories at Weybridge, UK’s principal analysis and laboratory testing facility. It mentioned the Authorities inherited the laboratories in poor situation with their long-term future doubtful – posing a big threat to Britain’s farmers and human well being
It added that the NAO ‘rightly acknowledges that our animal illness system is constructed on sturdy horizon scanning, surveillance, and scientific experience’ and mentioned the UK has simply signed a brand new Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Settlement with the EU with which is able to keep biosecurity and public well being protections while easing commerce limitations.
Final month, £10m of recent funding was introduced for the Genomics for Animal and Plant Illness Consortium (GAP-DC) venture led by APHA.
Jenny Stewart, APHA chief government officer mentioned: “Our employees work 24/7 to safeguard animal and plant well being from an enormous vary of pests, and animal and plant ailments of animals and crops – a lot of this work is world main with our Weybridge laboratories the worldwide reference library for dozens of various ailments.
“We’ve efficiently delivered illness and pest outbreak response nearly constantly over latest years, together with managing the biggest outbreak of avian influenza this nation has ever skilled whereas managing the unfold of bluetongue illness to guard farmers whereas giving time for vaccination”.
“I want to thank NAO for his or her work on this report – we’ll examine the findings intimately in order that the UK can stay on the forefront of surveillance, diagnostics, analysis, and speedy response.”
Regarding report
NPA chief government Lizzie Wilson mentioned: “This can be a thorough and deeply regarding report that reiterates what we already knew concerning the state of our nationwide biosecurity and capability to handle illness.
“We’ve been elevating these points with authorities and lobbying for change for a while. It’s good to now see it formally recognised and it underlines the seriousness of the scenario, with foot-and-mouth illness and African swine fever circulating in Europe and big holes in our border controls.
“The report is obvious that APHA are severely under-resourced and we nonetheless have main considerations about how the businesses would cope if we have been to contract one other notifiable illness.
“Our query for Authorities is how lengthy can they hold ignoring this threat?”
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chair of the Committee of Public Accounts: “Animal illness outbreaks may be devastating for the farming sector and price taxpayers billions of kilos.
“Regardless of some good work to establish new threats, authorities’s preparations for a future main outbreak are being hampered by a scarcity of capability, expertise and long-term technique. Authorities’s failure to hold out checks on animal imports can be threatening biosecurity on the border.
“Resilience to a extreme outbreak has not been examined lately, however the risk stays ever rising as our livestock develop into extra vulnerable to illness. With out modifications to the present working system, there’s a very actual threat that authorities wouldn’t be capable of reply successfully.”
