Paddy Tipping (PPS (Rt Hon Jack Straw, Secretary of State), Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Sherwood, Labour)

If she will make a statement on her plans for pre- and post-movement cattle testing.

Ben Bradshaw (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Exeter, Labour)

Pre-movement testing of cattle in England will help to reduce the risk of TB spread. Our intention is to introduce pre-movement testing from 27 March, subject to the findings of the independent review that is currently under way.

Paddy Tipping (PPS (Rt Hon Jack Straw, Secretary of State), Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Sherwood, Labour)

Bovine tuberculosis is an increasingly serious and costly problem. The focus so far has been on badger culling, but does the Minister accept that better farm biosecurity has an important role to play in reducing the incidence of the disease?

Ben Bradshaw (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Exeter, Labour)

Yes, I would accept that. My hon. Friend is right to complain about the level of the focus in the consultation on badger culling. Many people do not realise, for example, that pre-movement and post-movement testing has already been introduced in Scotland, or that it will now be introduced in England and Wales. All vets and scientists advise that pre-movement testing is a complete no-brainer if we want to get a handle on the disease.