Thank you, Joyce Watson, for those comments and questions. I think you’re quite right: we need to make sure the public do understand that if they come across a dead bird or a group of five dead birds, they should report that, but they need to know where to report it. So, there is the GB helpline, but you’re quite right: they can report it to their local authorities as well.

I think the point I made—I think it was in my response to Paul Davies—was that I’ve asked officials to look at what we can do for keepers of under 50 birds to make sure that they do register. There are a number of them already registered, so they will get the e-mail and the text update immediately. But it is my concern that people with, say, two or four or six birds aren’t getting the information. I think the only way we can do that is to make it compulsory for them to register, but that’s a significant piece of work. It would require secondary legislation, for instance, and as I mentioned, I think it would be good to have a consistent approach across the UK, but those discussions have started.

The reason I mentioned that the incidence is unlikely to decrease is because of the issues that you referred to in relation to migrations. So, they are very much in consideration in the discussions, particularly between the chief veterinary officers and officials at a UK level.