About us
The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency is an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, working across Great Britain on behalf of Defra, Scottish Government and Welsh Government. The agency was formed on 1 April 2011, following the merger of Animal Health and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency.
Our role is to safeguard animal health and welfare as well as public health, protect the economy and enhance food security through research, surveillance and inspection.
We primarily work to prevent and control animal disease across Great Britain through activities on farms, at markets and other livestock-related premises, and through specialist veterinary laboratory and scientific services. We are also responsible for advising policy-making departments and providing veterinary evidence base for animal health and welfare policy decisions.
Our range of functions include research and consultancy, the surveillance and management of disease controls, including import and export controls, and protecting the nation’s food supply through egg marketing and dairy hygiene inspections.
We also have global responsibilities, notably acting as the national, European and international reference laboratory for several exotic and zoonotic notifiable diseases, and protecting CITES listed endangered species through our wildlife registration and licensing role.
For further information, see the AHVLA framework document and the Q&A on the merger.
Staffing and salaries
Published staff data for AHVLA can be found here. This dataset is updated twice a year and can also be viewed as an interactive Organogram here.
Monthly management information on staff numbers and paybill costs is also available:
Workforce Monitoring Report
The Workforce Monitoring Report examines the diversity of our workforce and provides evidence of how we achieve our aim of offering real equality of opportunity to all our employees. The report covers core Defra and Defra’s five Executive Agencies (Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Rural Payments Agency, Food and Environment Research Agency and Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science).
Business Expenses for the Chief Executive
Civil Service People Survey 2011
Customer Service Standards
We are committed to providing a responsive, efficient and high quality service. We continually aim to improve our services and that means we need, and value, your feedback on the service we provide.
See our Customer Service Standards document for further information.
These standards will be regularly reviewed and updated accordingly.
Finding information on our website
Our website is currently being developed and will be available in English and Welsh when this work is complete. In the meantime, for further information on the work of AHVLA please visit our existing websites:
Mae’r safle hwn yn cael ei ddatblygu ar hyn o bryd, a bydd ar gael yn Saesneg ac yn Gymraeg pan fydd y gwaith hwn wedi’i gwblhau. Yn y cyfamser, mae gwefan Iechyd Anifeiliaid ar gael yn Gymraeg.
