Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
52nd Report - Resilience to threats from animal disease
Public Accounts Committee
HC 885
Published 5 November 2025
Conclusions (7)
9
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The Department does not have an overarching long-term strategy for strengthening resilience to the increasing risk from animal diseases. The Department has several strategic programmes underway to strengthen resilience to animal diseases, including the redevelopment of the National Biosecurity Centre and developing an integrated animal tracing system. However, there is …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to the recommendation, stating it will examine strategic themes to strengthen long-term resilience to animal disease and integrate interdependencies from other related strategies and reforms. It implicitly commits to providing an update on this strategy's development in 18 months.
15
Conclusion
Acknowledged
APHA pointed out that its current surveillance activities are not risk-based or efficient, which results in APHA returning to a location on a regular basis even though it finds no issues. APHA is starting work to move to a more risk- based, intelligence-led surveillance regime and to design its management …
Government Response Summary
APHA's surveillance activities are undertaken in accordance with a defined process, with initiatives underway to deliver risk-based and efficient surveillance activities, and APHA will have a clear plan with milestones within six months to track delivery of audit recommendations. By February 2027, APHA will review all surveillance activities to ensure a targeted, risk-based approach.
16
Conclusion
The Department set out concerns it has about the capacity of local authority trading standards officers to undertake routine surveillance activities. While local authorities have stepped up to provide extra resources during recent outbreaks, capacity to undertake business-as-usual activities such as visiting livestock markets has reduced over the last 15 …
17
Conclusion
The Department explained that following EU exit, the UK lost access to the EU’s Animal Diseases Information System which provided almost real-time intelligence on EU animal diseases. While the UK has access to an international intelligence system provided by the World Organisation for Animal Health, information is received in slower …
23
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The Department first started work to create a digital, multi-species, UK-wide tracing system in 2013 and acknowledged that it has been working on this for a long time. It explained that the original concept of using an off- the-shelf solution for a single species and adapting that for multiple species …
Government Response Summary
The government will introduce changes to cattle identification, registration and reporting from summer 2026, including mandatory Electronic Identification (EID) for all new-born calves from 2027 and a new cattle movement reporting system. Expansion to cover additional species is planned from 2027 onwards.
25
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Animal diseases do not respect national borders, but the Department confirmed that implementing animal tracing systems is a devolved matter. The Department explained that its livestock tracing programme director meets regularly with the devolved administrations. However, it also highlighted that different decisions are being made. For example, Scotland had made …
Government Response Summary
The government will introduce changes to cattle identification, registration and reporting from summer 2026, including mandatory Electronic Identification (EID) for all new-born calves from 2027 and a new cattle movement reporting system. Expansion to cover additional species is planned from 2027 onwards.
31
Conclusion
We are concerned about the future efficacy of policy changes for managing Bovine TB. The badger cull, which we understand seems to have been effective in reducing Bovine TB, has been largely terminated.47 Yet, a new cattle vaccine seems to be years away.48 This hiatus leaves farmers in a very …