asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will take steps to enable farmers to be paid the full market value for animals compulsorily slaughtered as T.T. reactors.

No. Reactors to the tuberculin test would not be worth more than carcass value if they were allowed to be sold on the open market. For such reactors compulsorily slaughtered by my Department, we pay compensation at threequarters of the market value of a comparable healthy animal, subject to a maximum of £120 per head. The intention of this arrangement is to provide farmers with a substantial measure of free insurance against bovine tuberculosis.