Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 13, paragraph 25, rec a
Defra should, over the next year:
a fully integrate its understanding and assessment of risk into its process for prioritising and allocating resources across the Defra group; for animal disease resilience funding, it should support this by:
? improving its management information to give a more complete picture of what it spends on animal disease resilience; and
? ensuring a consistent approach across the Defra group for estimating the benefits of animal disease resilience investment;
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q4 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 13, paragraph 25, rec b
b support APHA to improve its systems and processes in ways that will ensure more efficient and effective responses to outbreaks; this could include providing ongoing support for APHA?s Delivering Sustainable Future programme;
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
Implemented
· Q2 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 13, paragraph 25, rec c
c work with the Veterinary Medicines Directorate to identify barriers to animal vaccine availability and develop a plan to address these barriers to ensure availability over the long-term
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q4 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Animal and Plant Health Agency; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 13, paragraph 26, rec d
Defra and APHA should, over the next 18 months:
d develop a coherent, time-bound strategy and plan that sets out how they will ensure resilience to animal disease within the context of increasing risk from factors such as climate change and antimicrobial resistance; this should specify outcomes for animal disease resilience to support the effective implementation, management and scrutiny of its various commitments in this area; it should include:
? endemic and exotic diseases to ensure an integrated approach and effective use of available resources;
? how APHA?s resourcing model will evolve to cope with more frequent outbreaks;
? how digital transformation will improve efficiency and effectiveness, particularly within APHA;
? investigating alternative models of sharing responsibility and cost between government and industry; and
? dedicated resource to develop this strategy that is not diverted to disease outbreak response
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q2 2027-28
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Animal and Plant Health Agency; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 13, paragraph 26, rec e
e work with stakeholders in the veterinary sector to develop a workforce strategy that addresses the challenges currently facing the veterinary workforce, particularly in government but also considering the private sector;
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q4 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Animal and Plant Health Agency; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 14, paragraph 26, rec f
f update their approach to conducting exercises to test their contingency plans so that they fully examine all aspects of the plans, including resources available ?on the ground?, and fully capture and implement lessons learned;
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q4 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Animal and Plant Health Agency; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 14, paragraph 26, rec g
g ensure their disease outbreak plans are comprehensive and up-to-date, including updating disease-specific plans where required, ensuring plans cover responding to concurrent large exotic disease outbreaks and a scenario where capacity is insufficient, and developing a contingency plan for an exotic zoonotic disease outbreak.
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q4 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 14, paragraph 27, rec h
On border controls, and taking account of the new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU, Defra should, as a matter of urgency:
h review whether current SPS controls are providing effective biosecurity at our borders;
Response position:
Rejected
Delivery:
No implementation status recorded
Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 14, paragraph 27, rec i
i collate and publish regular data on volumes of SPS imports and checks for animal products in each category of risk;
Response position:
Partially accepted
Delivery:
Implemented
· Q4 2025-26
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 14, paragraph 27, rec j
j work with Border Force and Port Health Authorities to ensure there are robust checks on illegally imported animal products coming through ports, both through personal and commercial import routes; this should include particular consideration of goods arriving via both these routes at Dover, due to the volume of traffic there.
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q3 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO