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

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.

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.

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.

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.