Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 27
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)
Port Health Authorities and Border Force are responsible for seizing illegal meat and animal product imports at ports.38 The Department praised DPHA and Border Force for their work at Dover and confirmed that it has provided £9 million of funding to DPHA to support work on illegal meat imports.39 However, DPHA’s funding has only allowed it to undertake proactive illegal meat checks for 20% of the time, with the volume of meat being seized coming from less than 0.2% of inbound vehicles.40 The Department stated that future funding for this work was subject to its internal business planning which is usually undertaken in the autumn with funding confirmed in January of each year.41
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.