8. Statement by the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd: Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) — Progress of the Wales Five-year Animal and Environment Plan

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:37 pm on 28 February 2023.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 5:37, 28 February 2023

Thank you, Sam, for your very positive response to the report. I think you're right. You do have to be very brave, and certainly when I was health Minister it was an area that I was really keen to look at. I remember we had a very small project on one hospital to see how we could reduce antibiotic use, and I think you have to have that sort of focus on a small area to then see how you can roll out best practice, and that's absolutely something we've done.

I think in Professor Christianne Glossop we had somebody who was very keen to champion it, and certainly the interim CVO has carried on that work. He chairs a UK group on the surveillance of AMR in animals. You ask about the new CVO, who is due to start next week, actually, and will he bring specific expertise. I'm not aware of anything, but currently he's the deputy CVO in the UK and obviously we do work very closely with the UK Government around AMR. They've got a national plan. We've got a national plan. It's really important that we obviously collaborate, so I look forward to seeing what he does bring to the table. But I think it is really important that we continue to have that focus. Obviously the plan that we have from 2019 takes us up to 2024, and we're looking at what changes we can expect with the new implementation plan that the UK Government are bringing forward. That plan will shape our approach here in Wales, so I'm assuming that the new CVO will help us, as we've already started to look at our successor plan going forward. I think it's really important that we play to our strengths. We have unique circumstances, of course, in Wales that need to be looked at too.

You ask about IBERS. Again, I mentioned the new veterinary school that we have in Aberystwyth. I actually haven't had any discussions with IBERS in relation to this, but I will certainly ensure that officials do if we think it would be worthwhile. Around the £2.5 million, we're looking at how interested parties can assess that funding going forward, because we've announced that for the next two years. That is work in progress, and obviously further details will be announced.