HL Deb 25 March 1987 vol 486 cc283-4WA
Lord Stanley of Alderley

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What action they intend to take with regard to Professor Dunnet's recommendations on the future of the Consultative Panel on Badgers and Tuberculosis.

The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Belstead)

My right honourable friends the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State for Wales have accepted Professor Dunnet's recommendation that the consultative panel should be kept in being. And, as further recommended, they have discussed with the panel's membership what changes could usefully be made in its composition and operation.

As a result of these discussions, my right honourable friends have agreed that it would be desirable for the panel to have an independent chairman, as is the case with the majority of similar government advisory bodies. My right honourable friends are therefore appointing Mr. Mark Thomasin-Foster, an Essex farmer and National Vice-Chairman of the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, to this post. They believe Mr. Thomasin-Foster's background in both farming and conservation make him particularly well equipped for this role. Other appointments to the panel will be made shortly.

In the light of Professor Dunnet's recommendations, my right honourable friends have also amended the terms of reference of the panel, in particular to reflect more accurately the objective of our policy on badgers and bovine tuberculosis. The terms of reference are now:—

  1. (i) to keep under review the evidence relating to bovine tuberculosis in badgers, including its distribution, its prevalence and its relationship to bovine tuberculosis in cattle;
  2. (i) to advise on operations to be undertaken by the Ministry in order to limit the transmission of tuberculosis from badgers to cattle;
  3. (iii) to recommend research appropriate to the problem of badgers and bovine tuberculosis.