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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the annual expenditure by farmers on pre-movement testing and other short interval tests.

500,488 cattle were included in 35,999 pre-movement tests performed in England between 01/11/2015 and 31/10/2016, at an average unit cost that has been estimated between £3 and £5 in veterinary fees per animal tested. These are private tests paid by the farmer and therefore the actual testing fees are a private arrangement between farmers and their veterinary surgeons.

3,104,324 cattle were included in approximately 12,008 complete Short Interval tests performed in England between 01/11/2015 and 31/10/2016. These tests are carried out at Government’s expense in most cases unless a farmer opts to pay privately for the testing

Information on Pre-movement testing can be found at the TB Hub

www.tbhub.co.uk/guidance/testing-and-compensation/pre-movement-testing/