Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help the beef and dairy industry with the long-term costs of farms shut down due to bovine tuberculosis.

The Government is acutely aware of the devastating personal impact of bTB on livestock owners and their families. Defra is working hard to support farmers whose herds experience a bTB breakdown and ensure that information and support is accessible.

Government funded statutory bTB testing is available to restore the bTB free status of affected herds, including supplementary TB blood testing that may be deployed to help speed up the resolution of persistent, recurrent, and other bTB breakdowns and reduce the risk of further breakdowns in such herds. Additionally, compensation payments are available to cattle farmers for all animals that need to be removed from their herds for bTB control purposes. Further details on funded TB testing and compensation can be found online at: TBhub.

Defra is committed to helping farmers and their families tackle the mental health and livelihood impacts of bTB and has provided grant funding to the Farming Community Network since 2010.

Defra are also working in partnership with the livestock sector and a wide range of academics, charities, and other experts to deliver the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, supporting continual improvement in farm animal health and welfare.  That includes a programme of financial support for farmers in the pig, cattle, sheep, and poultry sectors, to help them continually improve animal health and welfare.