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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cows were slaughtered because of Bovine TB in Shropshire in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.

The total number of cattle slaughtered include:

- TB test positive animals: animals compulsorily slaughtered because they responded to the tuberculin skin test, interferon-gamma test, or antibody test in a way that was consistent with Mycobacterium bovis infection

- inconclusive reactor animals: compulsory slaughtered animals that showed positive reactions to bovine tuberculin that were not strong enough for the animals to be deemed reactors

- direct contacts of positive animals: animals that, although not test reactors, were considered to have been exposed to Mycobacterium bovis and compulsorily slaughtered

The information required is currently published at GOV.UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain

Additional information is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/incidence-of-tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain/quarterly-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain-statistics-notice-december-2022: ‘total cattle slaughtered’ tab.