Extending use of the GB Poultry Register:

After public consultation, Defra (Animal Health) and the Welsh Assembly Government 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.