Oral Answers to Questions Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Roger Williams
Main Page: Roger Williams (Liberal Democrat - Brecon and Radnorshire)Department Debates - View all Roger Williams's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(11 years, 2 months ago)
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Mr Paterson
Emphatically yes, because any random cull would worsen the disease. If the hon. Member has such evidence, he should take it to the police.
Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire) (LD)
I congratulate my hon. Friends on their new positions and I look forward to working with them. Sadly, bovine TB is well established and endemic in various parts of England, but other parts are free of the disease. What action is the Department taking to ensure that the disease does not spread from the highly infected areas to the less infected areas?
Mr Paterson
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this issue. The danger is that unless we get a grip on the disease in high risk areas it will work its way across to other areas—I cited the figures for Oxfordshire in response to my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Sir Tony Baldry). Our TB strategy is clear about containing the disease in high-risk areas and not letting it spread. We must be emphatic about that.