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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her Written Ministerial Statement of 17 December 2015 HCWS 409, what budget she has allocated for her Department's badger cull policy in 2016; and what estimate has she made of policing costs associated with badger culls in 2016.

Bovine TB is the greatest animal health threat to the UK. Based on current expenditure it will cost the taxpayer £1 billion over the next decade if we do not take rigorous action now. The Government is delivering a comprehensive strategy to eradicate the disease and protect the future of our dairy and beef industries. This includes strengthening cattle testing and movement controls, improving biosecurity, and badger control in areas where TB is rife.

We expect the costs to government per area to decrease in line with the estimates contained in Table 4 of the Badger Control Policy: Value for Money Analysis published in December 2015:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-badger-control-policy-value-for-money-analysis. The industry-led culls are funded by farmers. The Department’s budget allocation for supporting the 2016 culls has not yet been finalised.

It is not possible to estimate policing costs associated with badger control operations for 2016 at this stage. However, policing costs per cull area have decreased every year since 2013