PAC inquiry on animal disease resilience – report published

The PAC's (Public Accounts Committee) response echoes NFU asks about Defra’s preparedness for delivering control measures for exotic diseases and the future efficacy of policy changes for managing bTB.

The Committee is calling on Defra and APHA to act now to improve preparedness for a major outbreak by:

• leveraging other technical staff
• learning from past initiatives
• adopting successful approaches from other countries.

NFU President Tom Bradshaw responded to the report: “The NFU has repeatedly warned ministers about the government’s lack of resilience to threats from animal disease, and the findings of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee report only confirms our concerns.

“The government must urgently rebuild APHA’s capacity to respond. Years of under-investment in infrastructure, staff shortages and limited veterinary resources, a lack of strategic planning and a failure to embrace digitisation have all placed huge pressure on APHA. All while the ongoing pressures of managing bluetongue, avian influenza and bTB have further hit staff resource and resilience, leaving little room for long-term planning.

“Farmers need confidence that APHA can respond swiftly and effectively to disease outbreaks and right now, that confidence is lacking. This report must be a turning point. Investment in new traceability services, contingency planning and vaccination strategies are all vital to protect British farming.”

Read our breakdown of the Committee's findings.

The NFU has submitted written evidence to the Public Accounts Committee inquiry on the resilience to threats from animal disease in England. 

The NFU is extremely concerned that England, and the UK, are highly vulnerable to animal disease incursion as the resilience of structures and systems are at an all-time low after years of decline.

This is an issue we have repeatedly warned ministers of in recent years, which were further evidenced by the findings from a recent NAO (National Audit Office) report.

We support the recommendations in the NAO report and urge Defra to act swiftly to mobilise resources to deliver these according to the report's short deadlines, which the NFU believes reflect their critical nature.

The NFU has made the case that:

• Defra is aware of the risks posed by TAD (Transboundary Animal Disease) but appears to be unprepared for delivery of control measures at scale.
• Defra does not recognise the magnitude of its shortcomings in resilience to animal disease, and the challenges that lay ahead in reforming structures and systems.
• This has led to an overall underestimation of the risk of disease incursion and an overestimation of national ability to respond.

We are grateful therefore for the opportunity to present evidence, supported by the comprehensive 2025 NAO report, and recommendations to Defra on how resilience can be strengthened.

Until these recommendations are implemented, hopefully at pace, the NFU believes that England, the UK, and its farmers are unacceptably exposed to TAD risks, with the overall economic impacts running to billions of pounds, according to the NAO.

NAO report key findings

The NFU provided commentary to the NAO's Resilience to animal diseases, which reported on Defra’s ability to manage structures, systems, and governance processes to ensure England’s resilience to animal diseases.

Forming part of the NAO's examination of the National Risk Register, the report found that key public bodies are insufficiently prepared for a major animal disease outbreak and would likely struggle to cope with one.

The report states that factors such as climate change and anti-microbial resistance mean outbreaks are increasingly frequent and livestock more vulnerable, but government lacks a strategy and action plan for improving resilience to animal diseases. 

The NFU recommends six actions that Defra should take:

• Conduct root-and-branch reviews of risk assessment, contingency planning, and resourcing models.
• Develop a centralised animal disease risk register.
• Improve border biosecurity and traceability systems.
• Establish a coordinated vaccination strategy.
• Ensure local authorities are properly resourced and integrated into national plans.
• Undertake a comprehensive economic impact assessment of potential outbreaks.

The PAC (Public Accounts Committee) is seeking evidence for its inquiry on the resilience to threats from animal disease in England. 

Following on from a recent NAO (National Audit Office) investigation, which examined whether Defra, working with key public and private bodies, was taking effective action to ensure this resilience, the PAC is scrutinising England's policy on topics such as:

• Defra’s ability to establish and manage the structures, systems and governance processes needed to ensure England’s resilience to animal diseases.
• Whether enough is being done to understand and protect against the threat of animal diseases in England.
• Asking if England is prepared to respond to animal disease outbreaks and if it could effectively recover. 

The NFU will be formulating a response to this inquiry and will share outcomes with members in due course.

Detail of the inquiry can be read at: PAC | Resilience to threats from animal disease