Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the (a) average, (b) minimum and (c) longest time between an animal testing positive for TB at a farm test and being collected from that farm for destruction has been in the last 12 months.
Answered by George Eustice
Data for the previous 12 months is not readily available due to a change in the way this data is recorded in April 2016.
Removal times for the period April 2016 to November 2016 -
a) Average number of days = 9.3
b) Minimum number of days = 0
c) Maximum number of days = 89 days (as a result of farmer refusal to allow removal and bankruptcy complications).
These figures include animals slaughtered on farm for welfare or other reasons and those for which there was a delay in removal for any reason including to allow for calving, medicine withdrawal.
These figures cover England, Scotland and Wales.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many abattoirs in the UK process TB reactor cattle.
Answered by George Eustice
There are a total of six abattoirs contracted by the Animal and Plant Health Agency to accept TB reactor cattle – five in England, one in Wales. There is also an abattoir in Scotland that routinely takes reactors from farms in Scotland for the Animal and Plant Health Agency. However owners can choose to privately slaughter any reactor animal under a private arrangement with a slaughterhouse of their choice, which may or may not be one of these seven abattoirs.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many abattoirs in the UK processed TB reactor cattle in 2016.
Answered by George Eustice
There are a total of 6 abattoirs contracted by Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to accept TB reactor cattle – 5 in England, 1 in Wales. There is also an abattoir in Scotland that routinely takes reactors from farms in Scotland for the Animal and Plant Health Agency. All of these received reactor cattle in 2016. Other abattoirs would have been used to slaughter reactors under a private arrangement with the owner. The Animal and Plant Health Agency does not have a list detailing abattoirs that processed reactors under a private arrangement with the owner.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the furthest distance is in (a) time and (b) mileage that a TB reactor cow has travelled to a UK abattoir which processed TB reactor cattle in the last three years.
Answered by George Eustice
The furthest journey recorded in the last three years was agreed for six cattle, in December 2015.
a) The estimated journey time was 4.5 hours.
b) The furthest reported distance travelled by a reactor in the last 3 years is 260 miles.
This was agreed as the nearest contracted abattoirs were unable to take the reactors within the ten working day target for removal.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
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.
Answered by George Eustice
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/
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the annual value is, excluding testing costs on farm or in a laboratory, of TB reactor salvage to the Government.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra received £8.8m in 2015/16 in salvage receipts for TB reactor cattle.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support the Indian government in protecting Asian elephants.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The UK is committed to conserving Asian elephants and recognises the growing threats to their populations, particularly from poaching and cross-border, illegal trade in live animals to feed the demand by the tourist and entertainment industries. The UK has been working internationally through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in discussion with elephant range states, including India, to increase protection for Asian elephants. We secured agreement in 2014 for elephant range states to put in place measures to prevent illegal trade in live elephants.
The Darwin Initiative, a UK Government grants scheme that helps to protect biodiversity and the natural environment, has in the past contributed over £300,000 towards a five-year project in Assam, India, helping to mitigate human-elephant conflict. Indian organisations working on elephant protection will also be eligible to apply for funding under a second round of the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, part of the £13 million that the Government has made available to support action to tackle the illegal wildlife trade.
As a global leader on this issue, the UK Government hosted the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in February 2014 and played a major role in the success of the follow-up conference in Botswana in March 2015. The UK Government has a broad and deep relationship with India on a wide range of issues, including biodiversity, and we look forward to working further with the Indian Government on the protection of the Asian elephant and other threats to biodiversity in that region.