Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 21
52nd Report - Resilience to threats from animal disease
Published 5 Nov 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Resilience to threats from animal disease All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
In 2017, the Department started a programme to redevelop Weybridge. In the 2025 Spending Review, the government committed £1 billion over the period 2025–26 to 2029–30 to continue the redevelopment, with a total estimated cost of £2.8 billion.27 In correspondence received after our evidence session, the Department stated that the overall redevelopment programme will be completed in 2034–35, with interim laboratory facilities completed in 2027 and 2028 to allow operations to continue while the new National Biosecurity Centre is built.28 The Department said that managing the risk of failure during the interim 10-year period was a very high priority. APHA explained that it has contingency plans in place to deal with any outages at the site and also to enable it to move activities around as the redevelopment continues. However, APHA acknowledged that managing this process will become increasingly difficult as the facilities at Weybridge continue to age and it could not guarantee that operations would remain at Weybridge for the entirety of the 10-year period.29 24 C&AG’s Report, paras 17, 3.10 25 Q 26 26 C&AG’s Report, para 3.10 27 Q 28; C&AG’s report, para 17 28 Letter from Defra to Committee, 18 September 2025 29 Qq 26, 28-30 13 Livestock tracing
From: Public Accounts Committee, 52nd Report - Resilience to threats from animal disease (HC 885), 5 November 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-second Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 5 January 2026).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifth-second report from Session 2024-26
Published 19 January 2026.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with the Committee's recommendations it addresses, giving target implementation dates between February 2026 and Summer 2027.
- On preparedness, the department and APHA, working with the Welsh and Scottish Governments, "will review and update as required" disease control strategies for four higher-risk diseases by March 2027, and review all strategies on a rolling three year cycle.
- On vet vacancies, the department is establishing a government veterinary services working group to create a workforce strategy, and "will consult" on reform of the Veterinary Surgeon's Act.
- On APHA modernisation, milestones run from spring 2026 to autumn 2026, but progress "is dependent on future funding arrangements, and additional funding may be required".
- On illegal meat imports, the department is "actively considering increases to the funding" for Dover Port Health Authority, and says funding decisions will take account of preventing the costs of major disease outbreaks.