§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what progress his Department has made on animal husbandry issues following the report of the Working Party into the role of cattle husbandry in the development of a sustainable policy to control M bovine infection in cattle; [133588]
(2) if he will publish the guidelines that the Bourne Expert Group is operating with regard to animal husbandry. [133589]
§ Ms Quin[holding answer 23 October 2000]The Husbandry Panel report was published on 16 May this year. The Government welcomed the report and are considering its recommendations. We have sought the views of both the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB chaired by John Bourne and the TB Forum. The ISG' s terms of reference provide for advising the Government, as required, on any aspect of its strategy to control TB in cattle. The TB Forum established a sub-group of its members to look at husbandry and bio-security issues184W with regard to cattle TB. This sub-group reported to the Forum's October meeting. The Government expect to publish its response to the Husbandry Panel report within the next few weeks.