§ Sir Geoffrey Johnson SmithTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will establish a national cattle database as a means to identify, trace and age every bovine animal in the United Kingdom. [30830]
§ Mrs. BrowningWe are urgently working on new measures to improve animal identification and traceability. A mandatory cattle passport for animals born after 1 July 1996 is being introduced. We shall also be introducing a system of double ear tagging. Currently, only one official tag is required.