To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the likely effects of his Department's badger vaccination scheme on the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle. (267815)

Vaccinating badgers will reduce the risk of badgers catching the disease and therefore reduce the risk of transmission from badgers to cattle. However, badgers are not the only transmission route for TB so cattle will still be at risk from TB eg through cattle-to-cattle and other transmission routes.