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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many of the holdings that were interferon-gamma tested in 2018 in the High Risk Bovine TB control area in England were tested on account of (a) being located in an areas that had completed two years of successful badger population control, (b) there being clear evidence that repeated skin testing has failed to resolve a TB breakdown and (c) the APHA veterinary investigation concluding that the most likely transmission route for the affected herd was contact with infected cattle and that measures are in place to prevent further spread of disease from that source.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) record and report surveillance information for interferon gamma testing in the Bovine TB High Risk Area of England.

The number of holdings that were interferon-gamma tested in 2018 in the Bovine TB High Risk Area in England are shown in the table below.

The ‘other reasons’ row includes all other reasons for testing - for which the data cannot be separated - except serial tests which are only used in very specific cases when anomalous reactions such as interference with the test is suspected.