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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