To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many cattle aged (a) over 15 months, (b) 12 to 15 months, (c) nine to 12 months, (d) six to nine months and (e) 42 days to six months have tested (i) positive and (ii) inconclusive for bovine tuberculosis under pre-movement testing regulations in each year since its introduction. (283009)

DEFRA does not compile statistics for pre-movement testing in the format which the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire requests. However, we can provide the number of bovine tuberculosis (TB) positive and inconclusive reactor (IR) cattle identified in England each year since TB pre-movement testing became mandatory in 2006 (table 1); and a breakdown of the reactor and IR animals over 15 months and under 15 months (table 2).

The published figures are an underestimate of the impact of the policy and show the minimum benefits. The number of reactors identified does not take into account the benefits of herd owners utilising Government paid surveillance tests as pre-movement tests or the number of IRs identified by pre-movement testing which have ended up as reactors when retested.