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Disease control: Contingency Plan for Exotic Animal Diseases

Defra's revised Contingency Plan for Exotic Animal Diseases was laid before Parliament on 9 December 2008.

The plan, which is reviewed annually, is produced for Defra by the Animal Health agency. The Plan has been amended to reflect the lessons identified from the outbreaks and incidents handled during 2008.  The plan has also been updated to address recommendations made in Sir Iain Anderson’s review of the 2007 outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease.

The Contingency Plan is comprised of two parts:

  • An Overview of Emergency Preparedness which provides details of how we have prepared for the operational response; and
  • The Framework Response Plan which is an operational manual for those involved in managing the response and policy information by specific animal disease, setting out current policy on how each of these diseases will be dealt with.

Relevant policy information, available on the Defra public website, is referenced in the plan to ensure that stakeholders always have access to up to date policy information.

This Plan replaces Defra’s Exotic Animal Disease Generic Contingency Plan which was laid before Parliament on 10 December 2007.

It will be reviewed annually to meet the provisions of Section 14a of the Animal Health Act (AHA) 2002.

Disease factsheets

Page last modified: September 7, 2009