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1690190

	registered interest
	date	19/02/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of badgers that will be killed in (1) Oxfordshire, and (2) England, in 2024 as part of the bovine tuberculosis control programme.
	tabling member printed	Lord Krebs
	uin	HL2553
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/02/2024 answer text <p>No estimate has been made on the number of badgers to be removed in Oxfordshire and England in 2024, as part of our bovine tuberculosis eradication strategy. The minimum and maximum numbers for each licensed cull area will be published in due course.</p> answering member printed Lord Douglas-Miller question first answered 27/02/2024 17:19:27 answering member 5006 label Biography information for Lord Douglas-Miller
	tabling member	3736 label Biography information for Lord Krebs

1645614

	registered interest
	date	19/06/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of stress caused by tuberculosis testing on the rate of abortion in cows.
	tabling member constituency	Shrewsbury and Atcham
	tabling member printed	Daniel Kawczynski
	uin	190057
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2023 answer text <p>Bovine TB is one of the most significant and costly animal health problems facing our cattle keepers, it has a devasting impact on affected rural businesses. Routine and targeted bTB testing of cattle herds, using effective and validated tests, is a key part of our bTB eradication strategy.</p><p> </p><p>No specific assessment of the potential impact of stress caused by tuberculosis testing on the rate of abortion in cows has been commissioned by Defra.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 26/06/2023 15:31:19 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	1566 label Biography information for Daniel Kawczynski

1645615

	registered interest
	date	19/06/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of tuberculosis testing on milk yields in dairy herds.
	tabling member constituency	Shrewsbury and Atcham
	tabling member printed	Daniel Kawczynski
	uin	190058
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2023 answer text <p>Bovine TB is the most significant and costly animal health problem facing our cattle keepers, it has a devasting impact on affected rural businesses. Routine and targeted bTB testing of cattle herds, using effective and validated tests, is a key part of our bTB eradication strategy.</p><p> </p><p>No specific assessment of the potential impact of tuberculosis testing on milk yields in dairy herds has been commissioned by Defra.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 26/06/2023 15:23:28 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	1566 label Biography information for Daniel Kawczynski

1645616

	registered interest
	date	19/06/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the impacts of tuberculosis (a) initial testing, (b) test failure followed by further testing after 60 days and (c) test failure of stock retained on a farm beyond the intended timescale on farm labour.
	tabling member constituency	Shrewsbury and Atcham
	tabling member printed	Daniel Kawczynski
	uin	190059
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2023 answer text <p>A) Details on the number of cattle tested for bovine TB together with the number of test positive animals are included in our regularly published statistics. Here is a link to the latest statistical notice: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/historical-statistics-notices-on-the-incidence-of-tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain-2022-quarterly" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/historical-statistics-notices-on-the-incidence-of-tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain-2022-quarterly</a></p><p> </p><p>B) We have assumed that the reference to ‘failed tests’ relates to cattle with an “inconclusive reactor” test result. Inconclusive reactors (IRs) are cattle that have a differential bovine-avian reaction to the skin test that is not strong enough to classify them as reactors. These animals remain isolated from their herd while awaiting the results of a retest at 60 days. IRs that do not give a negative result at the retest are deemed to be test reactors and removed. Defra and APHA do not view an inconclusive test result as a ‘failed test’. In the High Risk Area of England, 40% of officially TB free herds that only disclosed IRs went on to have a TB incident within the following 15 months. This was similar in the Edge Area (36%) and Low Risk Area (25%). This indicates that IRs are an important predictor of the presence of infection and supports the policy of restricting IRs that pass their 60-day re-test (‘resolved IRs’) to their disclosing herd for life.</p><p> </p><p>C) Defra has made no assessment on the impact on farm labour caused by any overdue tests for cattle with inconclusive test results.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 26/06/2023 16:11:57 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	1566 label Biography information for Daniel Kawczynski

1641808

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress she has made on her Department's 25 year plan to eradicate bovine tuberculosis.
	tabling member constituency	West Worcestershire
	tabling member printed	Harriett Baldwin
	uin	187632
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2023 answer text <p>Defra is driving forward an ambitious strategy to eradicate bovine TB in England, which includes a range of evidence-led interventions to tackle the disease in both cattle and wildlife.</p><p> </p><p>Our comprehensive strategy includes strengthening cattle testing and movement controls, introducing new help for herd owners to improve biosecurity measures on farms and to help manage down the risk of bringing the disease into their herds., and supporting the deployment of badger vaccination Working with our TB Partnership stakeholder group, we’re currently developing a policy proposal for a targeted approach to future wildlife control increasing local ownership in delivering TB against a holistic strategy. This will include a provision for culling in the worst affected areas and where the epidemiological evidence points to an ongoing role of badgers in the disease.</p><p> </p><p>Developing new and better tools is an important part of our programme of work. We continue to fund major research, including on cattle vaccination and improved diagnostics. That funding has already resulted in a major breakthrough by APHA in developing a test that can differentiate TB-infected among vaccinated cattle (a DIVA test). World-leading BCG vaccination trials in cattle began in England and Wales in June 2021. Our aim is to have a deployable TB vaccine for cattle within the next few years.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 12/06/2023 14:10:15 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4107 label Biography information for Dame Harriett Baldwin

1626664

	registered interest
	date	10/05/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 2 May 2023 to Question 182475 on Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control, if she will make it her policy to change the compensation calculation for farmers in England whose cattle have been culled due to tuberculosis so that each animal is individually valued.
	tabling member constituency	Loughborough
	tabling member printed	Jane Hunt
	uin	184542
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2023 answer text <p>Until 2006, compensation for TB affected cattle in England was determined using individual valuations. There was however significant evidence of overcompensation so, following a public consultation in 2004, Defra moved to a table-based valuation system. Almost all cases of TB compensation in England are now determined using table valuations. Table valuations are objective and based on real market data. There are no plans to alter this approach.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 17/05/2023 13:35:00 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4839 label Biography information for Jane Hunt

1623465

	registered interest
	date	24/04/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her counterpart in the Welsh Government on differences between compensation payments in England and Wales for farmers whose cattle have been culled as a result of tuberculosis; and whether she plans to take steps with her counterpart to align compensation payment levels.
	tabling member constituency	Loughborough
	tabling member printed	Jane Hunt
	uin	182475
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/05/2023 answer text <p>Bovine TB is the most significant animal health problem facing cattle keepers in England and Wales and so my Department works closely with Welsh Government to support the development of more effective disease eradication policies. However, responsibility for animal health matters, including approaches to compensation, is fully devolved.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 02/05/2023 11:29:04 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4839 label Biography information for Jane Hunt

1611865

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) effectiveness of badger culls in tackling bovine TB and (b) reliability of the TB test used to identify cattle for slaughter; and what estimate her Department has made of the (i) annual cost of bovine TB in Shropshire and (ii) level of bovine TB in that county.
	tabling member constituency	Shrewsbury and Atcham
	tabling member printed	Daniel Kawczynski
	uin	181409
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2023 answer text <p>Evidence suggests that the badger cull has been effective in reducing bovine tuberculosis (TB) incidence in cull areas by 45% after three years of culling and 50% after four years. TB statistics for England show that disease incidence (i.e., the rate at which new cases or ‘breakdowns’ are detected in officially TB free herds) in the High Risk Area, where approximately 80% of all the TB-affected (breakdown) herds are located, has been decreasing since 2017. The percentage of cattle herds under TB restrictions in England (prevalence) is at its lowest level (4.5%) since 2010 (4.2%), having peaked at 6.4% in March 2018.</p><p> </p><p>The cornerstone of TB control in cattle and other species is the accurate detection and removal of animals infected with the bovine TB bacterium <em>Mycobacterium bovis</em> (<em>M. bovis</em>) before they can spread the disease to other animals. The main screening test for TB in cattle in Great Britain is the single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin (SICCT) test. This is commonly known as the tuberculin skin test, which is used throughout the world to screen cattle, other animals and people for TB. It is the internationally accepted standard ante-mortem technique for detecting <em>M. bovis</em> infection in most species of mammals, including cattle.</p><p> </p><p>All the official tests used in the ante- and post-mortem diagnosis of TB in cattle are thoroughly validated and evaluated by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). The SICCT test has a very high specificity, generating on average only one false positive result for every 5,000 - 6,000 uninfected cattle tested. However, it is only moderately (80%) sensitive, with about one in five bTB-infected cattle potentially missed by the test. This is why APHA uses the more sensitive (but less specific) interferon-gamma blood test to supplement the primary skin test in some herds affected by TB incidents. This helps accelerate the detection and removal of all the infected animals in such herds and reduce the risk of repeat (recurrent) breakdowns.</p><p> </p><p>In September 2020 my Department increased the frequency of routine TB surveillance testing for most cattle herds in Shropshire from annually to every six months, with the first additional skin herd tests starting in March 2021.</p><p> </p><p>As a result of the increased frequency of testing, 583,056 animal TB tests were completed in Shropshire in 2022. This resulted in a total of 1,981 cattle being compulsory slaughtered for TB control reasons in 2022 out of 583,056 animal TB tests completed in the county, at an estimated net compensation cost of £1.8M. This was lower than the peak of 2,357 cattle slaughtered in 2011, out of 425,787 TB tests completed in the county.</p><p> </p><p>There were 232 new TB herd incidents detected in Shropshire in 2022, which is the lowest annual figure since 2007 and substantially fewer cases than the peak of 353 in 2013. 11.1% of herds in Shropshire were under TB restrictions at the end of the year.</p><p> </p><p>For the complete and most recent set of official historical statistics for TB in cattle in Shropshire, published by my Department at the beginning of March, please see:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1140736/England_HRA_bTB_Statistics_by_Measure_08mar23.ods" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1140736/England_HRA_bTB_Statistics_by_Measure_08mar23.ods</a>.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 25/04/2023 11:58:07 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	1566 label Biography information for Daniel Kawczynski

1604959

	registered interest
	date	16/03/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cows were slaughtered because of Bovine TB in Shropshire in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
	tabling member constituency	Shrewsbury and Atcham
	tabling member printed	Daniel Kawczynski
	uin	167070
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2023 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Shropshire</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2020</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2021</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2022</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total number of cattle slaughtered</p></td><td><p>2047</p></td><td><p>2099</p></td><td><p>1981</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p>The <strong>total number of cattle slaughtered</strong> include:</p><p> </p><p>- <strong>TB test positive animals</strong>: animals compulsorily slaughtered because they responded to the tuberculin skin test, interferon-gamma test, or antibody test in a way that was consistent with <em>Mycobacterium bovis</em> infection</p><p>- <strong>inconclusive reactor animals</strong>: compulsory slaughtered animals that showed positive reactions to bovine tuberculin that were not strong enough for the animals to be deemed reactors</p><p>- <strong>direct contacts</strong> of positive animals: animals that, although not test reactors, were considered to have been exposed to <em>Mycobacterium bovis</em> and compulsorily slaughtered</p><p> </p><p>The information required is currently published at GOV.UK:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain</a></p><p> </p><p>Additional information is available at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/incidence-of-tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain/quarterly-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain-statistics-notice-december-2022" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/incidence-of-tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain/quarterly-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain-statistics-notice-december-2022</a>: ‘total cattle slaughtered’ tab.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 21/03/2023 11:42:29 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	1566 label Biography information for Daniel Kawczynski

1581674

	registered interest
	date	30/01/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the report by the Animal and Plant Health Agency Year End Descriptive Epidemiology Report: Bovine TV in the Edge Area of England 2021, County: Hampshire, published on 7 October 2022 and updated on 28 November 2022, and (2) the implications for their policy on the timing of the badger cull in Hampshire; and what steps they will take to end the badger cull in that county as a result of the findings in that report that "badgers only accounted for 11 per cent of weighted risk pathways".
	tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
	uin	HL5215
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/02/2023 answer text <p>We are committed to achieving official freedom from Bovine TB for England by 2038 and intensive badger culling in areas where badgers are an important factor in spreading disease to cattle has been an important part of this. The badger cull has led to a significant reduction of bTB in cattle herds, with research showing a 66% and 37% reduction of new herd breakdowns in the first two cull areas.</p><p> </p><p>Defra has published analysis by APHA on where in Edge Area counties, such as Hampshire, there is considered to be a local reservoir of infection. This analysis includes data from previous badger found dead surveys alongside information on cattle breakdowns and other sources: <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fbovine-tb-local-reservoirs-of-mycobacterium-bovis-infection-in-the-edge-area-of-england&amp;data=05%7C01%7Ccomms.tb%40defra.gov.uk%7C270830e615d64e21be7308dae4d0abce%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638073882129977928%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=7YKqgsurqcB4bkEnLrl85PsK8BcYWd2IxEx%2BjG%2FwPK8%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Bovine TB: local reservoirs of Mycobacterium bovis infection in the Edge Area of England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Badger culls are licensed by the licensing authority Natural England (NE) who take local reservoirs into account. NE licensed the final intensive cull areas last year, and Government is gradually building government-supported badger vaccination and surveillance. Badger culling would remain an option where epidemiological assessment indicates that it is needed.</p> answering member printed Lord Benyon question first answered 13/02/2023 16:02:01 answering member 1547 label Biography information for Lord Benyon attachment 1 file name tb-local-reservoirs-mycobacterium-bovis-edge-area.pdf title Bovine TB: local reservoirs...
	tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb