Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Government spent on annual testing of cattle in the high risk, edge and low risk areas in each of the last three years.
Answered by George Eustice
These are the figures currently available for annual testing in England for the three areas:
| Edge | High Risk | Low Risk |
April 2016 to 20 Oct 2016 | £745,617 | £1,261,432 | £15,928 |
May 2015 to March 2016 | £1,169,118 | £2,001,883 | £35,589 |
The total does not include any testing undertaken by Official Veterinarians in the first few months of year 2015-2016. Testing prior to year 2015-2016 is not available at the moment as the Veterinary Delivery Partners only started operating in May 2015. The testing undertaken by Official Veterinarians up to a point in 2015 is not readily available.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the total cost of transport and lairage is for TB reactor cattle travelling the furthest distance.
Answered by George Eustice
The cost for using the six contracted abattoirs for reactor removal is calculated per mile and this varies depending on the number of animals in the batch.
The maximum distance travelled would generally be 199 miles.
If travelling 199 miles:
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the (a) average, (b) minimum and (c) longest time between an animal testing positive for TB at a farm test and being collected from that farm for destruction has been in the last 12 months.
Answered by George Eustice
Data for the previous 12 months is not readily available due to a change in the way this data is recorded in April 2016.
Removal times for the period April 2016 to November 2016 -
a) Average number of days = 9.3
b) Minimum number of days = 0
c) Maximum number of days = 89 days (as a result of farmer refusal to allow removal and bankruptcy complications).
These figures include animals slaughtered on farm for welfare or other reasons and those for which there was a delay in removal for any reason including to allow for calving, medicine withdrawal.
These figures cover England, Scotland and Wales.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many abattoirs in the UK process TB reactor cattle.
Answered by George Eustice
There are a total of six abattoirs contracted by the Animal and Plant Health Agency to accept TB reactor cattle – five in England, one in Wales. There is also an abattoir in Scotland that routinely takes reactors from farms in Scotland for the Animal and Plant Health Agency. However owners can choose to privately slaughter any reactor animal under a private arrangement with a slaughterhouse of their choice, which may or may not be one of these seven abattoirs.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many abattoirs in the UK processed TB reactor cattle in 2016.
Answered by George Eustice
There are a total of 6 abattoirs contracted by Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to accept TB reactor cattle – 5 in England, 1 in Wales. There is also an abattoir in Scotland that routinely takes reactors from farms in Scotland for the Animal and Plant Health Agency. All of these received reactor cattle in 2016. Other abattoirs would have been used to slaughter reactors under a private arrangement with the owner. The Animal and Plant Health Agency does not have a list detailing abattoirs that processed reactors under a private arrangement with the owner.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the furthest distance is in (a) time and (b) mileage that a TB reactor cow has travelled to a UK abattoir which processed TB reactor cattle in the last three years.
Answered by George Eustice
The furthest journey recorded in the last three years was agreed for six cattle, in December 2015.
a) The estimated journey time was 4.5 hours.
b) The furthest reported distance travelled by a reactor in the last 3 years is 260 miles.
This was agreed as the nearest contracted abattoirs were unable to take the reactors within the ten working day target for removal.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the annual expenditure by farmers on pre-movement testing and other short interval tests.
Answered by George Eustice
500,488 cattle were included in 35,999 pre-movement tests performed in England between 01/11/2015 and 31/10/2016, at an average unit cost that has been estimated between £3 and £5 in veterinary fees per animal tested. These are private tests paid by the farmer and therefore the actual testing fees are a private arrangement between farmers and their veterinary surgeons.
3,104,324 cattle were included in approximately 12,008 complete Short Interval tests performed in England between 01/11/2015 and 31/10/2016. These tests are carried out at Government’s expense in most cases unless a farmer opts to pay privately for the testing
Information on Pre-movement testing can be found at the TB Hub
www.tbhub.co.uk/guidance/testing-and-compensation/pre-movement-testing/