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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will respond to the letters in the Veterinary Record written by Mr Langton and co-authors, on 1 April and 20 May, rebutting his Department’s criticisms of their research entitled Analysis of the impact of badger culling on bovine tuberculosis in cattle in the high-risk area of England, 2009–2020, in a letter published on 18 March which cited incorrect data.

The UK Chief Veterinary Officer (“CVO”), Dr Christine Middlemiss, and Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser (“CSA”), Professor Gideon Henderson, have made clear their views on Mr Langton’s paper in their letter to the Veterinary Record of 18 March and in the correction published on 21 May, which had no impact on their original conclusions. I have nothing further to add on that topic.