Avian Influenza

Oral Answers to Questions — Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – in the House of Commons at 10:30 am on 2 February 2006.

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Photo of Nigel Waterson Nigel Waterson Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions 10:30, 2 February 2006

If she will make a statement on recent development of her Department's contingency plans in the event of a national outbreak of avian influenza.

Photo of Ben Bradshaw Ben Bradshaw Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) (Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare)

We laid the latest version of our contingency plan before Parliament in December. Our response to avian flu is kept under constant review.

Photo of Nigel Waterson Nigel Waterson Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions

I appreciate that a register has now been introduced for poultry farmers with more than 50 birds, but what is being done to keep smaller poultry farmers in the loop as the situation develops? Does the Minister have a contingency plan to loosen the rules on free range animals if it becomes necessary to order farmers to bring their poultry indoors?

Photo of Ben Bradshaw Ben Bradshaw Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) (Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare)

On the hon. Gentleman's latter point, we are cognisant of the concerns, not only in the free range industry but across the industry, and if we wound up measures to prevent spread, in the event of an outbreak in this country, we would have a proper risk assessment and wind them down as soon as it was safe to do so afterwards, to avoid an unnecessary impact on those producers.

On the hon. Gentleman's first point, we put the threshold at 50 because all of our veterinary advice suggests that it is the larger flocks that are more likely to be infected and then create the size of viral load that is more likely to spread. There are more poultry keepers in this country than at any time since the second world war. Although we have not made it compulsory for people who keep fewer than 50 birds to register, we are advising them to do so to make the transmission of information easier.

Photo of Bob Spink Bob Spink Conservative, Castle Point

We must stop the virus mutating so that it can be transmitted from human to human, but it is likely to do so in those who are exposed to the virus—the workers in the industry. What discussions is the Minister holding with colleagues in other Departments to ensure that all workers in the poultry industry are vaccinated as soon as possible?

Photo of Ben Bradshaw Ben Bradshaw Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) (Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare)

We are working closely with the Department of Health on that. Recently, I met representatives of the poultry workers' trade unions. The hon. Gentleman is right to say that the main danger—indeed, the only danger—to human health is for those who live or work in close proximity to infected birds. We have far better biosecurity in this country than in parts of the world where the disease is endemic. For the most impact on trying to prevent mutation, or reassortment, we need to get a handle on the outbreaks in south-east Asia and other countries. In Turkey, as he will know, there are some small back-yard flocks where people actually sleep with their birds and have very intimate contact with them. As far as I am aware, that does not happen in this country.

Photo of Bill Wiggin Bill Wiggin Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The report of the independent review on avian quarantine recommends that reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction be used as a method to detect avian influenza. Will the Minister confirm that it is his intention to use that system to detect avian flu? Bearing in mind what he has just said to my hon. Friend Bob Spink about small poultry-keepers—people such as me—surely it is worth having more than a voluntary register, which after all is still not open and will not be until 28 February, as people are more likely to bring their poultry into their own homes, thereby risking infection if information about the risk is not given to them.

Photo of Ben Bradshaw Ben Bradshaw Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) (Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare)

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman does not have the level of intimacy with his birds that I described as being commonly the case in other parts of the world.

It is interesting that the hon. Gentleman recommends that we take a less proportionate and more bureaucratic approach to the poultry register. I thought that his party favoured better regulation, but clearly not. We think that we have taken a sensible and proportionate approach, which is supported by all the farming unions and industry representatives, including those with small flocks and hobbyists. In answer to his question about the tests used for avian flu, we shall certainly investigate the usefulness of the test that he described but the best test is still a post mortem based on a sample from an infected bird.