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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will reallocate surplus funds from the current round of bids on the Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme to additional projects designed to close physical gaps in coverage along the Cheshire Edge Zone in East Cheshire and Stockport.

Applications for the Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme, which offers support for privately-led vaccination campaigns in the Edge Area of England (including parts of Cheshire) closed on 27 February. All applications received are being considered in line with the published criteria and decisions on successful applications will be announced in due course.

In addition, we are initiating a one-off additional skin test of all cattle herds in the Stockport area. This test will be paid for by Defra and its purpose will be to identify whether there has been any spread of the disease among the local herds and to help detect any infected herds early in order to limit the number of affected animals within these herds.