Exercise Hornbeam
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the effectiveness of Exercise Hornbeam on foot and mouth control measures; and what plans she has to respond to the Royal Society's update report on those measures. [208266]
Mr. Bradshaw: Exercise Hornbeam confirmed that the Government's contingency plan for another foot and mouth disease outbreak is robust and that considerable progress has been made in emergency preparedness since 2001. The contingency plan ensures that the Government will be able to mount a more rapid, efficient and co-ordinated response to an outbreak by working closely with operational partners such as local authorities and the police.
All exercises identify issues that need clarifying and addressing and Exercise Hornbeam was no exception. The Government are not complacent and the exercise has helped to identify the areas where we need to focus efforts further to improve procedures and to fine tune policies and strategies for all stages of an outbreak.
Defra will be providing a detailed response to the Royal Society Infectious Diseases in Livestock Follow-Up Review later this month.