The NPA has urged the government to ensure the UK’s national biosecurity is a priority in the forthcoming spending review.
In its submission ahead of the 2025 review, the NPA highlights concerns that the UK remains ‘poorly protected from biosecurity and notifiable disease threats’, especially given the prevalence of African swine fever (ASF) in parts of the EU and the recent discovery of foot-and-mouth Disease (FMD) in Germany.
It notes that more than 170 tonnes of illegal meat products have now been seized at the Port of Dover since October 2022, despite limited funding and only a small percentage of vehicles checked, with 10t seized in the week commencing January 6 alone by the ASF team at Dover Port Health Authority (DPHA).
The NPA response points out that the BTOM, introduced to control and monitor commercial imports, ‘does not appear to be functioning properly with very few physical inspections of products of animal origin (POAO) from the EU and rest-of-world taking place’.
“In the short term we would like to see the government address some of the concerns outlined above with regards to the functioning of the BTOM. Given the current failings involving both BTOM and personal imports, we believe a wholesale review of the process is required,” it says.
It calls for the government to provide port health authorities and local authorities, particularly DPHA, with the resource to properly enforce any control measures. “It is a relatively small investment in order to help prevent a potentially catastrophic disease outbreak in the UK,” the NPA states. “Therefore, we urge the government to agree a multi-year funding proposal for not just DPHA, but other agencies conducting this vital work.”
The document also calls for the government to commit to fully fund the rebuild programme for the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA) facilities in Weybridge, as recommends in a 2022 National Audit Office report.
Grant funding
The document also highlights the importance of future grant funding to the pig sector, after Defra announced it was ‘simplifying and rationalising grant funding’, creating significant uncertainty over the future of several crucial schemes relating to the pig sector.
These include the second and third rounds of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) which were dropped last year, the Slurry Infrastructure Grant (SIG) which is key to improving the environmental impact of slurry storage on farm, and the large infrastructure grants linked to the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway.
The first two rounds of this latter scheme were aimed at calf and hen housing, with the third being ringfenced for indoor pig units. “While we appreciate there are significant funding pressures across government, this funding is critical to support the extremely costly transition from conventional to flexible farrowing systems,” the NPA states.
Other key points
The document also:
- Calls for a commitment to reevaluate the proposed reforms to inheritance tax, Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR)
- Calls for the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator office, which will be part of the new Fair Dealing Obligations (Pigs) Regulations, to be adequately resourced to ensure it can meet its objectives and operate efficiently, especially as further fair dealing regulations are introduced for additional sectors.
- Request for government to provide a multiyear farming budget, as the NPA stands in full support of the NFU’s calls for a new deal for farmers.