Badgers (Hansard, 3 May 1990)

§ Mr. Ron Davies
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what statistics he has on the distribution of badgers in the United Kingdom.

§ Mr. Maclean
The most recent study of badger numbers was published in 1988 in the Mammal Review, Volume 18, No. 1, pages 1–9, a copy of which I am arranging to place in the Library of the House.

§ Mr. Ron Davies
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if it is his intention to replace his present badger control strategy with a policy of vaccination and live testing.

§ Mr. Maclean
The availability of these measures in a form that could be used effectively in field conditions would enable the present control strategy to be comprehensively reconsidered.

§ Mr. Ron Davies
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his policy with regard to the destruction of badgers in those areas without a badger panel.

§ Mr. Maclean
Badger removal operations may be authorised by my Department's veterinary staff in those parishes where there is a recent history of confirmed tuberculosis breakdowns attributable to badgers.

§ Mr. Ron Davies
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what economic assessment his Department has made of the badger eradication programme.

§ Mr. Maclean
An assessment of the costs and benefits of the badger control policy in operation from 1975–6 to 1983–4 was published in 1987 as Government Economic Service Working Paper No. 96. A copy is in the Library of the House.