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Defra publishes contingency plan for exotic animal diseases

DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (457/07) issued by The Government News Network on 10 December 2007

Defra's Exotic Animal Disease Generic Contingency Plan has been laid before Parliament today.

The plan is amended annually and is produced for Defra by the Animal Health agency. It includes an overarching plan for dealing with a range of exotic animal diseases, as well as plans for responding to specific diseases including Foot and Mouth Disease, Avian Influenza and, for the first time, Rabies and Bluetongue

The plan draws on lessons learned from disease outbreaks earlier this year including the Foot and Mouth disease outbreak during the summer, the outbreaks of Avian Influenza in February and May and the ongoing Bluetongue outbreak which began in September.

Animal Health and Welfare Minister Jeff Rooker said:
"Our revised Contingency Plan reflects Defra's commitment to mounting an effective response to disease outbreaks. It is important to learn lessons from our response to every disease outbreak and our experiences this year have made an important contribution to the revised plan."

The Contingency Plan is subject to ongoing revision based on the latest scientific advice, developments in policy and comments from stakeholders and operational partners together with lessons identified from disease outbreaks.

Notes to editors:
1. The Contingency Plan can be accessed on the Defra website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/control/contingency/index.htm.

2. Section 18 of the Animal Health Act 2002 requires that the appropriate authority must prepare a document (national contingency plan) indicating the arrangements the authority intends to put in place for the purpose of dealing with any occurrence of Foot and Mouth Disease, Avian Influenza and Newcastle Disease, and other diseases as the authority specifies, and requires that the document be laid before Parliament. Plans must be reviewed at least annually.

3. The Contingency Plan is comprised of two parts:
- An Overview of Emergency Preparedness which provides details of how we have prepared for the operational response; and
- The Framework Response Plan which is an operational manual for those involved in managing the response and policy information by specific animal disease, setting out current policy on how each of these diseases will be dealt with.

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