Question follow-through · 72984
Bluetongue Disease: Screening
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken to expand testing capacity for the bluetongue virus.
About this written question
A written question asks a government minister for information in writing. Parliament publishes the question and any answer.
- Answering body
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Tabled
- 29 Aug 2025
- Target answer date
- 2 Sept 2025
- Answer
- 5 Sept 2025 · 7 calendar days after tabling
Elapsed calendar days describe the record timeline, not whether Parliament considers an answer on time.
More questions by this MP on Environment and energy
- Sustainable Farming Incentive · 10 Oct 2025
- Packaging: Recycling · 10 Oct 2025
- Farms: Inspections · 10 Nov 2025
- Agriculture: Subsidies · 2 Jan 2026
- Agriculture: Subsidies · 2 Jan 2026
Shared topic keywords suggest a connection; they do not establish a follow-up.
Votes on this topic
- Taxation (Energy and Vehicles) Bill Committee: New Clause 5 · 1 Jul 2026
- Taxation (Energy and Vehicles) Bill Committee: New Clause 4 · 1 Jul 2026
- Taxation (Energy and Vehicles) Bill Committee: New Clause 2 · 1 Jul 2026
These Commons divisions share a topic label. The question did not necessarily lead to a vote.
Recorded timeline
29 Aug 2025
Question tabled
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken to expand testing capacity for the bluetongue virus.
2 Sept 2025
Target answer date
Date supplied by the official written-questions record.
5 Sept 2025
Answer published
All diagnostic testing for bluetongue virus is conducted at the bluetongue national reference laboratory at The Pirbright Institute. Current testing capacity is sufficient to meet the demands for disease control and movement testing. Nevertheless, Pirbrig...
Official data retrieved 28 Sept 2026.
Later records
Possible follow-up questions
Strong links require the same MP, department and exact heading. Other same-department questions are shown as unreviewed candidates, not as confirmed follow-ups. No debate link is asserted unless a stable source relationship exists.
Sustainable Farming Incentive
10 Oct 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications to the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) are responded to within the appropriate time frame; how many complaints have been recorded against the RPA each year for the pa
Packaging: Recycling
10 Oct 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that supermarkets are required to use packaging that is recyclable through household recycling systems; and whether she has considered tak
Farms: Inspections
10 Nov 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what coordination processes are in place between (a) the Rural Payments Agency, (b) the Animal and Plant Health Agency and (c) other arms-length bodies of her Department to (i) reduce
Agriculture: Subsidies
2 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what reassurance she can give to farmers whose cashflow relies on Higher Tier payments arriving in early December and who have not received their payments yet from the Rural Payments A
Agriculture: Subsidies
2 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the Rural Payments Agency’s performance in delivering Higher Tier and other payments in early December in line with past expectations.
Poultry: Animal Housing
24 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing import restrictions on enriched cages for laying hens, pullets and breeder layers.
Trees: Environment Protection
3 Jun 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the environmental merits of biodegradable alternatives to hard plastic tree guards.
Trees: Environment Protection
3 Jun 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the cost to local authorities of removing hard plastic tree guards at the end of the usage cycle.