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NEWS RELEASE

Ref: 230/08
Date: 17 July 2008

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Extending use of the GB Poultry Register

After public consultation, Defra (Animal Health) and the Welsh Assembly Government today announced changes in the use of personal data held on the GB Poultry Register in England and Wales. The changes will come into effect on 1st August 2008.

The Register was set up in December 2005 in response to increased threat of outbreaks of avian influenza. Poultry keepers with more than 50 birds are legally required to provide essential information about their premises to populate the Register. To date, the Register has been used for avian influenza risk assessment, prevention and control.

Use of the Register will be extended in the following areas:

  • management of other poultry diseases, including other notifiable diseases and zoonoses;
  • planning, response and recovery by the emergency services and other responders in civil emergencies affecting poultry premises, including avian disease outbreaks;
  • planning of visits related to legislation on veterinary medicines and on animal welfare;
  • providing information as necessary to the EC to substantiate UK claims for compensation from the EU in the event of a disease outbreak;
  • informing the work of Defra and Welsh Assembly Government statisticians and economists in the development of evidence-based policy;
  • informing the annual agricultural census and hence enabling the poultry questions to be removed from the census;
  • facilitating (non-commercial) ad-hoc surveys as part of Defra and Welsh Assembly Government’s regional and national activities towards achieving their strategic objectives, including for example England’s Sustainable Food and Farming Strategy and GB’s Animal Health and Welfare Strategy. This work may include the provision of advice and information to individual poultry keepers; and
  • informing the development of future customer contact management and registration as part of Animal Health’s Business Reform Programme.

Jeff Rooker, Minister for Sustainable Food and Farming and Animal Health, said:

“The additional uses of the Register will make the best of this valuable resource. We fully recognise the sensitivities and risks around data sharing and take very seriously our responsibilities for the proper handling of personal data. We will ensure that procedures and safeguards are in place to protect the personal data of poultry keepers and that these are consistent with the advice and recommendations from the report in June 2008 by the Cabinet Secretary on data handling in government, and from the recently completed independent review on data sharing by Richard Thomas and Dr Mark Walport.

“Poultry keepers stand to benefit from better joined up working within government reducing the need to ask them for the same data on numerous occasions. There are also benefits for the taxpayer from potential cost savings in the control of exotic and endemic poultry diseases as well as public health benefits from improved control of zoonotic poultry diseases.”   

A copy of the summary of responses to the consultation can be found at:  http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/vetsurveillance/poultry/pdf/personaldata.pdf 

 

Notes to Editors

    1. Responsibility for the GB Poultry Register was transferred from Defra to its executive agency – Animal Health – in April 2008.
    2. Animal Health is the government's executive agency primarily responsible for ensuring that farmed animals in Great Britain are healthy, disease-free and well looked after. One of its key roles is to implement government policies aimed at preventing or managing outbreaks of serious animal diseases, and in doing so support the farming industry, protect the welfare of farmed animals and safeguard public health from animal borne disease.
    3. Animal Health staff liaise with farmers, local authorities, private veterinary surgeons, market operators, transporters, slaughterhouses and many other groups, as well as the general public.
    4. As of July 2008, around 24,000 poultry keepers are listed on the GB Poultry Register.
    5. The public consultation on extending use of the Register included all registered poultry keepers in England and Wales and some 500 organisations. It prompted 469 responses from individuals and 31 responses from organisations.
    6. The Summary of Responses to the Public Consultation on “Possible changes of use of personal data held on the GB Poultry Register” can be found on Defra’s website at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/vetsurveillance/poultry/pdf/personaldata.pdf. Copies of the report can be ordered from Defra’s Library at a cost of £3.60 plus £1.50 p&p. Please email defra.library@defra.gsi.gov.uk or write to Defra Library, Lower Ground Floor, Ergon House, c/o Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3JR.
    7. The Register cost £8.4m to set up. Total running costs since 2005/06 are nearly £5m.
    8. The Cabinet Secretary’s report on Data Handling Procedures is available at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/~/media/assets/www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/csia/dhr/dhr080625%20pdf.ashx.
    9. The report on the Data Sharing Review by the Information Commissioner and Mark Walport is available at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/reviews/datasharing-intro.htm.
    10. Scotland did not participate in the consultation as they regarded the proposals, and the changes outlined above, to be in line with their approach to using the Register since it was first set up in 2005.

     

    End

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    Page published: 17 July 2008

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs