§ 2.56 p.m.
Lord DE CLIFFORDMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government in the event of a rabies outbreak, what organisation it is proposed to set up to control the outbreak; who will be responsible for operating the control organisation in the area concerned; and whether the instructions for setting up the organisation have already been issued.
§ Lord STRABOLGIMy Lords, in the event of a rabies outbreak, an outbreak control centre would be set up in the infected area by the Ministry of Agriculture's Regional Veterinary Officer in 11 the region concerned; he would be the overall area controller. Central direction would be given from the Ministry's Exotic Disease Control Room at Animal Health Headquarters, Tolworth, Surrey. The resources of the State Veterinary Service would be available as appropriate and all concerned have received the necessary instructions.
At local level local authorities are now developing their own contingency plans. To assist them in this task the Ministry has now issued guidelines, following consultations with the local authority and police associations.
Lord DE CLIFFORDMy Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for his reply, may I assume that this is the arrangement referred to in his document which was to be distributed by June 1976? May I further ask him whether, when referring to local authorities, we are in fact referring to county councils or district councils, and, whichever they are, could the local councils please be asked to give fuller publicity to these matters?
§ Lord STRABOLGIMy Lords, these arrangements were touched on in the document which, last time I answered a Question on this subject, I said would be placed in the Printed Paper Office, and I may say—giving propaganda to our own publications—that a considerable number of copies still remain. However, the matter is gone into more fully in the other document, which is called Guidelines for Local Authorities: Rabies Outbreak Contingency Plans which, as I said, has been sent to all local authorities. If your Lordships wish, I will place a copy of that document too in the Library. It goes into the emergency plans in considerable detail; in fact, if I may so describe them, they have been set up almost like a military operation.
Lord BRUCE of DONINGTONMy Lords, my noble friend has explained the involvement of the Ministry of Agriculture and of the Veterinary Service in this matter. Will he give some indication as to the extent to which the Regional Hospital Boards and the medical authorities are likely to be alerted in these matters?
§ Lord STRABOLGIMy Lords, this is necessary and there will be full coordination at local level between the local authorities, the veterinary authorities, hospital authorities and the police, and efforts have also been made to publicise this. In the event of an outbreak the contingency plans will he brought into operation with full publicity, including leaflets through every door and by means of loudspeaker vans.
Lord DE CLIFFORDMy Lords, would the noble Lord please take me a little further in this matter? If these plans have been issued to local authorities, would it not be possible, rather on the lines of the Army running a mobilisation exercise, for some local authorities to run an exercise to show that these organisations exist? I am particularly concerned with the problem of stray dogs in urban areas. Would the noble Lord not agree that the Departmental Working Party have produced a report, which the Minister had gone broody on, which specifically covered this point? Would the noble Lord not agree that if we could have such an exercise it would show the public that something is actually ready to be done?
§ Lord STRABOLGIMy Lords, we will certainly consider that. As I have said, the local authorities have the contingency plan which can be brought into operation. But it is the policy of the Government to keep rabies out of the country. At the moment, we are a rabies-free country, and can remain so if everybody plays the game.