Written question asked by Baroness Byford (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Bach (Labour) on Tuesday, 29 November 2005.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Question: Further to the Explanatory Memorandum on the Veterinary Surgery (Testing for Tuberculosis in Bovines) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/2015), in which areas the backlog of 1,750 outstanding tuberculosis tests is concentrated; whether the 12-month pilot will concentrate on these areas; and whether the interim report, scheduled under Point 8.3 of the regulatory impact assessment for autumn 2005, is still on target.

Answer: On 30 September 2005, 2,049¹ GB cattle herds had tuberculin tests overdue. Almost 60 per cent of these overdue tests were located in the counties² of Devon (358), Dyfed (352), Cornwall (248), and Hereford and Worcestershire (238).We initially proposed that the pilot would take place in four animal health divisional office areas (Carmarthen, Caernarfon, Reading and Reigate). This has now been extended to include Cardiff, Exeter, Gloucester, Stafford, Taunton, Truro and Worcester. We will train the same number of State Veterinary Service technical staff. However, the pilot is now focused on the areas where TB is more prevalent.Progress with the pilot has been slower than originally planned. However, we still hope to complete the pilot by the end of the summer 2006. We expect there to be around 16-20 approved testers by the end of March 2006 and aim to publish an interim report around this time."¹ Provisional data, downloaded from the State Veterinary Service (SVS) database on 6 October 2005. Subject to change as more data become available."² Statistics on bovine TB are aggregated according to the office structure of the SVS. As a result, data for the current authorities of Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion are aggregated as the former county of Dyfed; and data for the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire are combined.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 2512; 676 c17WA
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Cattle Administrative delays Pilot schemes Location Testing Bovine tuberculosis
Legislation: Veterinary Surgery (Testing for Tuberculosis in Bovines) Order 2005
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk