Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of Defra’s animal health infrastructure
Public Accounts Committee
HC 42
Published 16 November 2022
Conclusions (18)
9
Conclusion
Not Addressed
The APHA’s Weybridge site is the UK’s primary science capability for managing threats from animal diseases. It houses 98% of the APHA’s high containment laboratories. It is the APHA’s main site for running long-term animal health studies and the only facility equipped to deal with most zoonotic diseases.17 The Chief …
Government Response Summary
The government response only includes a restatement of the committee's conclusion and doesn't provide any additional information.
10
Conclusion
The Chief Veterinary Officer and the APHA emphasised that the Weybridge site is also the centre for an important programme of research.19 There are currently seven research programmes at Weybridge. These programmes include the development of a Bovine Tuberculosis vaccine and a test to distinguish between infected and vaccinated animals …
11
Conclusion
The Department recognised that it had failed to manage the Weybridge site properly given its importance as a national asset. It said that it had approached the management of the site as if it was just a property asset, and had not recognised the wider importance of the science capability …
12
Conclusion
An illustration of the poor long-term management of the Weybridge site is the inappropriate facilities management contract. The Department explained that in 2009 it consolidated a number of facilities management contracts across its estate resulting in one contract covering a large part of its estate including the Weybridge site. The …
13
Conclusion
We questioned the Department about why it has taken such a long time to put in place a redevelopment programme for Weybridge given the importance of the site. The Department explained that it first recognised there were significant problems in 2015 after a number of issues had arisen on the …
14
Conclusion
The Department confirmed that there have not been any serious breakdowns at the Weybridge site in recent years. The last major incident was in 2014 when backup generators failed, resulting in a loss of power to some of the high-containment buildings. This could have resulted in an escape of a …
15
Conclusion
The National Audit Office highlighted that a review of the Weybridge site in 2021 found more than 1,000 examples of “single points of failure – where loss of the system or asset will cause major catastrophic disruption to operations”.29 The Department highlighted the potential failure of the Weybridge site incinerator, …
16
Conclusion
The Department stated that it has a structure where risks are managed across the Weybridge site through its Science Facilities Joint Management Board. It also stated that the Department’s board and executive committee scrutinise the risks and mitigations at the Weybridge site. The Department said that the APHA has responsibility …
17
Conclusion
The Chief Veterinary Officer explained that a major breakdown, resulting in reduced high containment laboratory capacity at the Weybridge site, would make it more difficult to respond to a major animal disease outbreak. For example, a major Foot and Mouth disease outbreak would require the testing of tens of thousands …
18
Conclusion
The Department and the APHA set out how the Weybridge redevelopment programme will provide the flexible laboratory facilities to improve the UK’s resilience to animal diseases in the long-term.35 However, it also recognised that it needs to mitigate the risks of a major breakdown at the Weybridge site until the …
19
Conclusion
The Chief Veterinary Officer clearly set out the importance of having modern, flexible laboratory facilities to ensure the UK is resilient to animal diseases. The Department and the APHA highlighted the importance of the redevelopment of Weybridge to ensure this long-term capacity and resilience.37
20
Conclusion
The Chief Veterinary Officer explained that animal disease outbreaks are ranked on a scale from one to five with five being the most severe outbreak level and that the current assessment is that the UK has the capacity to cope with a level three outbreak. The APHA and Chief Veterinary …
21
Conclusion
The APHA and Chief Veterinary Officer cited the recent example of Avian Influenza. This is likely to be categorised as a level three outbreak. While the APHA said that it had coped well in managing this outbreak it had to deprioritise its other work. In particular, it had meant delaying …
22
Conclusion
The Chief Veterinary Officer and the APHA confirmed that the Weybridge site does not have ACDP (Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens) level four high containment laboratory facilities. This is the highest containment level relating to diseases where there is a risk to human health.41 The Chief Veterinary Officer and the …
23
Conclusion
The Department started work on its Weybridge redevelopment programme in 2017, but has changed the scope of the programme over time. Its Strategic Outline Case (June 2018) and Outline Business Case (March 2020) were focused on a construction programme to replace ageing buildings at the Weybridge site. The Infrastructure and …
24
Conclusion
The National Audit Office set out that HM Treasury approved funding of £1.2 billion for the Weybridge redevelopment programme in March 2020, below the Department’s current cost estimate of £2.8 billion. The Department confirmed that this includes agreed funding of £200 million up to 2024–25 to enable it to undertake …
27
Conclusion
Not Addressed
The Department explained that in developing the Programme Business Case for the Weybridge redevelopment it did significant additional work on its cost estimate. This was based on a more developed design for the Weybridge redevelopment than the Outline Business Case and incorporated additional elements such as transformation and more allowance …
Government Response Summary
The government response only includes a restatement of the committee's conclusion and doesn't provide any additional information.
31
Conclusion
Not Addressed
The National Audit Office found that the Department has put in place many of the elements for managing the Weybridge redevelopment programme well.57 The National Audit Office also highlighted that the redevelopment programme is high risk due to a range of factors including: the specialist nature of the construction, involving …
Government Response Summary
The government response only includes a restatement of the committee's conclusion and doesn't provide any additional information.