Speeches by Newbury.

“The NAO notes that a huge amount of work has gone into research, and the Committee heard about the roll-out of the new bovine TB test, which can produce results on farm—a huge improvement that massively increases our ability to protect from and respond to outbreaks. Taking that forward, what plans do you have for the r…”

“I just want to touch on the fact that we do not currently have an up-to-date strategy to address the growing risks posed by animal diseases. I think, as politicians, we can be guilty of wanting a strategy for everything—sometimes in place of meaningful action—but why do we not have an up-to-date strategy on that? Is th…”

“Absolutely. One of the things we have discussed on our Committee is whether people travelling in and out of the country are aware of the rules. We have had some concerns about whether the signage is adequate at certain seaports and airports. If we pass through any of those ports, which we did when we went to Germany, a…”

“One of the particular concerns we had, which we discussed on our visit, was that some of this meat is destined for farms, and it is being ordered in by farm workers. Perhaps they are ordering in meat that they are used to having in their home country that they cannot get in the UK, so they are placing these personal or…”

“Brilliant. I think we must be telepathically linked today, because my next question was going to be, “How does this Committee, and the EFRA Committee, measure you on your progress if we do not have a strategy?” Is there an intention to publish those indices in a sort of audit so that we can look at that?”

“Thank you for that answer, Emily. It actually answered my next question about what the future outlook is, particularly in the light of the SPS agreement that we hope will be secured with the EU. It is reassuring to hear that checks will continue as they are now. Could you say anything about—or is it too early to say—wh…”

“I would like to come on to illegal meat imports, which we discussed at length on the EFRA Committee as well. I mentioned earlier our visit to the port of Dover. On that visit, it is fair to say that we were all quite shocked by what we saw and the risks that we have at the frontier of our nation’s border in Dover. The …”

“One of the concerns that we discussed recently at the EFRA Committee was—and I appreciate that this was before you joined the organisation, Richard—that when we had the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001, the general model for most vets was to run their own practice, or to be effectively freelance. Many of them were willi…”

“What if we had an outbreak ongoing in Europe but there were a separate outbreak in Australia and New Zealand, and they wanted to call on our capacity? Do you see what I am saying? Are those scenarios being planned for?”

“Yes. If an outbreak swept across Europe and we could not call on any additional capacity from partners, are you confident that in that scenario we would be able to manage an outbreak or, more likely, multiple outbreaks?”

“Okay. You mentioned surge capacity, and the bilateral agreements that we have with other countries. What is your plan for a scenario in which there is a widespread outbreak that overwhelms capacity in our partner countries as well? What do we do in that situation?”

“The £1 billion buys you a very big new centre at the heart of the Weybridge site. What does the other £1.8 billion look like beyond that?”

“Can I touch on trying to ensure that the site is as effective as possible during this period? Clearly you have to maintain operations while all this work is going on, so it will involve things moving around, as we will have to do in this place when we do our renovations. Concerns have been raised about the critical wor…”

“Can you help us a bit more with the level of investment that is needed, because there are lots of figures bandied about? You mentioned the £1 billion that the Government announced earlier this year for the new National Biosecurity Centre, which is incredibly welcome. As a Committee, when we took over last year, that wa…”

“Do you think that there is a need to increase that capacity elsewhere so that those regional laboratories can handle more, or do you think that the redevelopment of Weybridge is sufficient to manage that risk?”

“I want to explore the Weybridge site a little further. You might be aware that the EFRA Committee had the opportunity to visit Weybridge earlier this year. We were also fortunate enough to visit the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut in Germany, which is obviously the APHA’s equivalent and is seen as one of the best examples …”

“I thank the hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett) for securing the debate. I begin by declaring that as a family, we will begin using the adoption and special guardianship support fund from next week, so this is current and personal for me. As I am about to find out, the ASGSF is a lifeline for thousands of famil…”

“I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. When my husband and I were going through the adoption journey and had our training and information evenings, the post-adoption support offer was very much part of that. If families feel that they cannot take that step because they fear they will be unable to get support, that is …”

“I thank the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Helen Maguire). Pavement parking was regularly raised with me during my five years as a councillor before coming to this place, but its real impact was brought home to me by one doorstep conversation with a couple in Chadsmoor. Both are in their 80s, and the gentleman is a c…”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Chris Bloore) for bringing forward the debate, and for so brilliantly setting out the challenges, but also the opportunity to give people with diabetes far more benefits from sport. One of the brilliant innovations in mental healthcare in recent years has been soci…”