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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department has spent on badger culling to date; and what estimate she has made of spending on badger culling in the financial years (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17, (c) 2017-18, (d) 2018-19 and (e) 2019-20.

Bovine TB is the greatest animal health threat to the UK. Based on current expenditure it will cost the taxpayer £1 billion over the next decade if we do not take rigorous action now. The Government is delivering a comprehensive strategy to eradicate the disease and protect the future of our dairy and beef industries. This includes strengthening cattle testing and movement controls, improving biosecurity, and badger control in areas where TB is rife.

To date, Defra has spent the following on badger control for the purposes of eradicating bovine TB:

2012/2013 – £2.5m

2013/2014 – £6.3m plus an additional £3.5m on policing costs

2014/2015 – £3.1m plus an additional £1.4m on policing costs

Costs for 2015/2016 are currently being finalised and will be published in due course.

Planning is underway for future years, but we expect the costs to government per area to decrease in line with the estimates contained in Table 4 of the Badger Control Policy: Value For Money Analysis published in December 2015:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-badger-control-policy-value-for-money-analysis.