§ Mrs. Ann WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the status of goats with regard to the national scrapie plan; how many goats have been reported to the authorities as having contracted scrapie in each year since 1993; and what assessment she has made of the significance of the incidence of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy in the national goat herd. [37923]
§ Mr. MorleyGoats are known to be liable to scrapie infection. They do not possess genotypes which would allow breeding for resistance to scrapie, and it would not be appropriate to broaden the scope of the national scrapie plan to include goats as well as sheep.
Since the disease became notifiable in 1993, eight cases of scrapie have been confirmed in goats in Great Britain of which three were confirmed in 1993, one each in 1994 and 1995 and three in 1996.
In recognition of the limited data available on the true incidence of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in sheep and goats, a testing programme was introduced this year across the European Union. As part of an expanded programme coming into effect in April, the United Kingdom will be testing 66,000 sheep and goats.