Animal Health Act 1981 (Amendment) Regulations 2005

No, my Lords, it is this instrument. Infected premises are those that are confirmed by the Chief Veterinary Officer as having disease present under the veterinary definition set out in the FMD directive. That confirmation must be arrived at by a veterinary inquiry involving sampling, unless the CVO believes that the premises is epidemiologically linked with another premises that has already been declared to be infected by sampling. In that case alone, disease can be confirmed on clinical grounds by examining the animals. That ensures that action can be taken quickly to stop the spread of disease when the original case has been confirmed by sampling. In short, that is the definition of infected premises. They do not change as a consequence of the statutory instrument that is to come. I was asked about the directive’s policy on the contiguous cull. The directive anticipates that such a policy may be pursued and specifically provides for a preventative eradication programme. There is no need to change UK legislation, as the powers necessary to slaughter susceptible animals that are contiguous to confirmed infection already exist in the Animal Health Act 1981. Our policy is, first and foremost, the slaughter of susceptible animals on infected premises and their dangerous contacts. In addition, emergency vaccination would also be considered as part of the control strategy from the start of any outbreak. That does not rule out the possibility of a contiguous cull if circumstances and our modelling showed it to be necessary. I shall write to the noble Duke on isolation as an exception to the 2001 contiguous cull, which was another point that he raised. On movement bans, we already have the power to put in place a national movement ban at the time of the confirmation of the first case. The noble Countess, Lady Mar, asked about the exceptions to the slaughter duty. Those set out in the regulations are precisely those laid out in the directive. Making further exceptions would under-implement the directive. She asked about PCR testing. The FMD directive requires that diagnostic tests and standards must be at least as stringent as those in the OIE manual. The directive also allows the Commission to adopt more stringent tests and standards than those in that manual. That has not been done, but if it were, the Commission tests would become the new benchmark and replace the standards.