24 Jun 2025
Ministers and officials have hailed the new project, despite continuing criticism from opposition politicians and concerns from a leading industry group.
Allister Webb
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Image: © VV Shots / Adobe Stock
A £1 billion investment package in a new National Biosecurity Centre represents a “vital milestone” in delivering long-term disease protections, according to a senior Government scientist.
The plan was unveiled today (24 June), after ministers were accused of being “asleep on the job”, following a highly critical National Audit Office (NAO) report.
An industry group has also warned that “infrastructure alone is not enough” as it called for measures to strengthen the UK’s regulatory capacity.
The NAO report, published earlier this month, warned of “significant gaps” in current contingency plans, outdated processes and infrastructure, plus veterinary capacity shortages.
The new funding, which Defra claims is a record investment, follows long-standing concerns over the future of the APHA’s Weybridge headquarters and repeated calls for substantial funding commitments.
But vet and shadow Defra minister Neil Hudson said the report was “startling and starkly demonstrates the Government are asleep on the job when it comes to biosecurity”.
Although he claimed Labour were now listening to his party on the issue, he warned the package still left a £200 million shortfall from the £2.8 billion the NAO concluded was needed to fully fund the project three years ago, following commitments made by the previous Conservative administration.
He said: “They now need to step up to the plate and fully fund the site at Weybridge and complete it at pace.”
Despite the investment, concerns persist about the timetable of the project, with the first interim laboratories not due to be completed until 2027 or 2028, with the new centre not expected to be fully operational until 2033 or 2034.
But the department claimed the current Government had “inherited laboratories in poor condition with their long-term future in doubt and the country facing increased risk without action”.
Defra secretary Steve Reed added: “Farmers and food producers will now be better protected from diseases, our food security strengthened, and public health better safeguarded against future pandemics.”
The new funding has also been welcomed by the industry group, NOAH, which called for a long-term strategy in the wake of the NAO report, as “a crucial and overdue step forward”.
But they added: “As veterinary professionals will know, however, infrastructure alone is not enough.
“Alongside this infrastructure investment, we must address the regulatory capability needed to get veterinary medicines into the hands of vets and farmers without unnecessary delay.
“If we are serious about strengthening the UK’s veterinary and animal health resilience, we must invest not just in buildings – but in the regulatory systems, skills and cross-sector coordination that will make those buildings effective.”
However, the APHA’s senior science director, Jenny Stewart, said: “This funding is a vital milestone in the delivery of a world-leading facility that will protect the UK from animal disease threats for decades to come.
“Our scientists and specialists at Weybridge are at the heart of the UK’s disease surveillance and response capability and provide a global centre of expertise.
“Investment on this scale will enable them to continue their critical work in modern, fit-for-purpose facilities, supported by the very latest technologies.”
