Livestock: Auctions
Environment Food and Rural Affairs
Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood, Conservative)
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to improve the level of information provided on the provenance of livestock at auctions including on (a) country of origin, (b) the number of TB tests an animal has been subjected to, (c) whether the animal spent any time in a testing parish and (d) whether the animal has been pre-movement tested for a sale; and if she will make a statement.
James Paice (Minister of State (Agriculture and Food), Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
I think my hon. Friend is referring to cattle. All cattle are individually identified and their movement history is set out in the passports that accompany them on all journeys including those to auctions. We have no current plans to enforce changes to the information provided at livestock auctions on the number of TB tests an animal has been subjected to. However, we encourage farmers to purchase cattle responsibly, bearing in mind the TB history of a herd and its geographical location.