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Bovine Tuberculosis

Volume 488: debated on Tuesday 3 March 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) cattle infected by bovine tuberculosis and (b) calves born to cows infected by bovine tuberculosis have been slaughtered in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and how much was paid in compensation to their owners. (251282)

The following table shows the number of cattle slaughtered under bovine tuberculosis (TB) control measures either as test reactors or direct contacts, and the amount of compensation paid, in England, in the last 10 years.

Data on the number of calves slaughtered because they were born to cows affected by TB is not centrally collated in electronic format and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Number of cattle slaughtered1

Compensation paid2 (£ million)

2007

19,794

15.2

2006

16,007

18.1

2005

23,135

32.1

2004

17,306

23.1

2003

17,551

25.2

2002

18,443

20.8

2001

4,438

4.6

2000

7,190

5.7

1999

5,580

3.2

1998

5,027

3.6

1 Data regarding the number of cattle slaughtered as test reactors or direct contacts are taken from the Animal Health Database (Vetnet). Data for 2006-07 are provisional and subject to change as more data become available and as a result of data validation and cleansing.

2 Compensation includes payments to farmers for ‘reactors’ and ‘direct contact’ animals which are compulsorily slaughtered. For 1999 onwards these data have been taken from the DEFRA Oracle Financial System. 1998 data are drawn from the 1998 report of the Chief Veterinary Officer and are not directly comparable to later years.