To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate his Department has made of the cost of the 2007 foot and mouth outbreak to (a) farmers within the surveillance zone and (b) farmers in England. (155577)

[holding answer 17 September 2007]: DEFRA has made an initial estimate of the total costs of the outbreak to the UK of £20 million, based on an economic model that has been developed for foot and mouth disease. The full impact will depend on domestic and international restrictions that remain in place and the estimate may be revised as further data become available. Disaggregated estimates of the cost to farmers in the surveillance zones or the whole of England would be unreliable.