Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of whether theavailability of rapid assay methods for bovine tuberculosis would assist in the detection of infection in badgers. [214118]Mr. Bradshaw: A rapid assay method for detection of bovine tuberculosis (TB) infection in badgers is not likely to be available forfield use in the short-term.The current TB diagnostic test for badgers, the indirect ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test, is not sufficientlysensitive to provide reliable estimates of TB prevalence in badgers. The sensitivity of the test is 40.7 per cent. and thespecificity is 94.3 per cent. when used as a single test.Defra is funding research into the development of immunological assays for the detection of Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) infectionin badgers at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency. The project aims to provide Defra with both improved and new diagnostic tools forthe identification of M. bovis in badgers. Research is due to end in March 2005.