To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 4 June (WA 101), whether the rise in the charge for disinfectant tests for foot and mouth disease and swine vesicular disease reflects an anticipated increase in the number of those tests that will be required in 2009 and 2010; and whether any part of the rise represents an element of cost recovery from the outbreak at Pirbright laboratory in 2007. [HL5398]

To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 4 June (WA 101), whether, if the number of disinfectant tests for foot and mouth disease and swine vesicular disease in 2009 and 2010 does not reach the level estimated by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and the Institute of Animal Health, the charge for the tests will be reduced. [HL5399]

Disinfectants testing carried out at the Institute for Animal Health for foot and mouth disease and swine vesicular disease must operate at full cost recovery. Each year estimates of costs are made using the average actual throughput from previous years in order to be able to work out the cost for individual tests. The disinfectants test charges do not contain any element of cost recovery from the outbreak at Pirbright laboratory in 2007.

The costs of disinfectants testing operate on an economy of scale, so the costs could only be reduced in the future if there were more, not less, tests requested.