§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he intends to implement the recommendation of the Dunnet review and re-examine the Ministry's policy on badgers and bovine tuberculosis.
§ Mr. MacleanWe are already implementing the recommendations of the present interim badger control strategy which is firmly based on the recommendations of a committee chaired by Professor Dunnet. One of these was that the strategy should be reviewed if certain criteria were met three and five years after the strategy was implemented. In the event, the criteria were not met at the three-year point, and five years have not yet elapsed. Nevertheless in line with Professor Dunnet's recommendations, a test to detect tuberculosis in live badgers is undergoing field trials. The way in which such a test might be used is being considered with the assistance of the consultative panel on badgers and tuberculosis.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on his Ministry's badger eradication programme.
§ Mr. MacleanThere is no badger eradication programme, and no such policy is justified. Small numbers of badgers are removed when implicated in a tuberculosis breakdown in cattle, as recommended by Professor Dunnet's independent review.