Committee publication · Correspondence · 6 May 2025
Correspondence from Dover Port Health Authority regarding foot and mouth disease, dated 30 April 2025
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Inquiry: Animal and plant health
Summary
Lucy Manzano, Head of Port Health at Dover Port Health Authority, writes to the EFRA Committee Chair detailing systemic failures in border biosecurity controls following the Border Target Operating Model's implementation. She criticises Defra's lack of transparency, defensive responses to scrutiny, and operational decisions that have left Dover's border vulnerable to illegal food and animal product imports despite escalating FMD and ASF threats. DPHA has seized over 230 tonnes of illegal products since 2024, yet Defra's 2025/26 funding offer of £3.1 million is insufficient and excludes veterinary staff she deems essential.
Key findings
- Dover Port Health Authority has removed over 230 tonnes of illegal products of animal origin (POAO) since 2024, with seizures rising from 13 tonnes (Jan–Apr 2023) to over 70 tonnes (Jan–Apr 2025), reflecting a five-fold escalation in two years.
- Defra's decision to locate the Border Control Post 22 miles away at Sevington rather than at Dover, combined with zero inspection frequencies and the TODCOF auto-clearance system, enables vehicles to cross the border 80% of the time unchecked at Dover and 100% at Coquelles, despite over 90% of illegal meat imports arriving via these routes.
- The proposed £3.1 million funding for 2025/26 enables checks on less than 0.2% of arriving vehicles and provides zero provision for Coquelles checks; Defra has removed funding for Official Veterinarians (OVs) whom Manzano states are essential for complex POAO identification.
- Manzano factually verifies that TODCOF auto-clearance did not cease during the FMD outbreak as Defra claimed; FMD-susceptible products continue to auto-clear the system, contradicting government reassurances that such goods are 'stopped at the border'.
- Defra has not responded to Manzano's 15 March letter questioning the sufficiency of £3.1 million funding; announced additional personal import controls on 12 April without consultation or funding provision; has not paid DPHA for all 2024/25 work; and has not committed funding beyond March 2026 despite critical infrastructure repair needs.
Tone
CriticalTopics
Key actors
Lucy Manzano, Alistair Carmichael, Baroness Hayman, Helen Buckingham, Dover Port Health Authority, Defra, Border Force, UK Government
Notable line
“Defra remain unable or unwilling to be transparent and provide answers in full and simple terms. Especially to pivotal questions raised by the Committee, around what is coming in, what is and isn't being checked, and why.”
Key Quotes
“… it is concerning that Defra remain unable or unwilling to be transparent and provide answers in full and simple terms. Especially to pivotal questions raised by the Committee, around what is coming in, what is and isn't being checked, and why.”
“… they appear ' locked-in, and inflexible in their thinking and mindset towards this border, and concerningly without obvious appetite for inquiry or change.”
“DPHA have been left responsible for safeguarding the border, but without the means (infrastructure (a BCP) or secured and appropriate funding) to effectively control it, despite the now escalating volumes of illegal food/POAO arriving since the implementation of the BTOM …”
“£3.1 million enables less than 0.2% of vehicles arriving via Dover to be checked and provides no provision for checks at Coquelles at all. No funding commitment has been indicated for post March”
“The OV skill set is unreplicated within the team, and they are critical to the successful delivery of this highly challenging and unique area of work, which includes complex identification processes of POAO and animal by-products etc.”
“TODCOF did, and continues to, undermine import systems of control. In the context pro-claimed, it is misleading to state that 'We ensured that 6 auto-clearance facilities were superseded by robust biosecurity controls which were implemented at pace following confirmation of the outbreak.'”
“I therefore cannot ignore what is happening, it would be negligent of me to do so, or to advise otherwise.”
“These goods are not permitted to enter the country, any consignment carrying them will not progress through our clearance system and will be stopped at the border.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗