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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has been made of the levels of screw worm infection in the UK cattle herd.

New World Screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax, a parasitic blowfly, is classified as a notifiable pathogen under the Specified Animal Pathogens Order (SAPO) in the United Kingdom. The fly is not established in the UK and there have been no recorded cases of screwworm infection in the UK cattle herd.

In the event of a suspected or confirmed case, the Secretary of State would either be notified via the Animal and Plant Health Agency or by the Health and Safety Executive who are the SAPO licensing authority.