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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the cost of introducing annual testing for bovine tuberculosis.

In 2012 the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England considered options for changes to the herd testing programme for bovine tuberculosis including the recommended county-based approach deployed from 2013. The additional cost to government of introducing annual herd testing in England was estimated at £12.8m for 19,600 additional herd tests per year. The average cost of a routine bovine tuberculosis herd test to a farmer was estimated at £350 in 2011/12.