While country-wide movement restrictions were in place as a result of FMD, Rural Payments Agency (RPA) Inspectors respected requests from individual farmers who, concerned about biosecurity risks, did not want an inspection to take place. Now that restrictions are lifted in many areas, RPA plans to resume the normal inspection programme on all farms outside the FMD Surveillance Zone.

Inspections will continue as follows;

Rest of GB – inspections will go ahead as usual with the expectation that farmers will allow entry. The normal refusal and obstruction procedures will be followed if an inspection is refused without a satisfactory reason.

FMD Restricted Zone - if an individual farmer is seriously concerned about an inspection because of biosecurity, the inspector will consider those concerns in the light of the particular circumstances and may postpone the inspection.

Surveillance Zone - no inspections will take place in this area.

Inspections will continue within the Bluetongue control zones. In all cases, inspectors undertake rigorous biosecurity procedures on all visits, preparing fresh solutions, fully disinfecting when they enter and leave farm premises and safely disposing of used disinfectant on each site at the end of each inspection.

This policy will be reviewed and updated as the FMD situation changes.

.