To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs what consideration his Department has given to the Final Report of the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB, which concluded that badger culling cannot meaningfully contribute to the control of TB.

The proposed bTB (bovine Tuberculosis) Eradication Strategy for Northern Ireland aims to reduce, and eventually eradicate, bTB levels by comprehensively addressing all the recognised key factors in the spread of the disease.

Within the new Strategy, consideration has been given to the role of wildlife, specifically badgers, which are accepted to act as reservoirs of bTB infection. In other regions of the UK and Ireland a badger intervention programme is a significant element of their bTB eradication strategies. The Department accepts that there needs to be a form of badger intervention if bTB spread is to be effectively addressed.

The report, ‘Bovine TB: The Scientific Evidence’ by the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB was presented to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs the Rt. Hon David Miliband MP, in June 2007. It was one of many scientific and research papers considered by the TB Strategic Partnership Group (TBSPG) in the development of their independent report published in December 2016, and which was presented to then DAERA Minister, Michelle McIveen, MLA.

As you will be aware, that report concluded that a bTB Strategy would only be successful if all the factors of bTB maintenance and spread were addressed, including the bTB reservoir within the wildlife population.

As part of the further development of the proposals in the new bTB Eradication Strategy, officials have reviewed the TBSPG recommendations and the papers that underpinned those recommendations. In addition, they have liaised closely with colleagues from across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

In England, the Government has implemented a badger culling policy since 2011, firstly by conducting pilots and then as a part of the eradication strategy. In the paper published in January 2021, ‘Summary of 2020 Badger Control Operations’, the Chief Veterinary Officer, Christine Middlemiss stated; “With Natural England’s Chief Scientist, we have concluded that all existing cull areas have delivered the level of effectiveness, according to coverage and effort, required to be confident of achieving disease control benefits”.

In the Republic of Ireland during the period 2004 to the present a non-selective badger culling policy has been in place as part of a wide ranging TB Eradication Programme. This Eradication Programme tackles many of the factors that result in the maintenance and spread of bTB and the herd incidence there levels have fallen from 5.9% in 2004 to 3.27% in 2016 and remain under 4.5% today. The Republic of Ireland recently launched a revised Strategy to tackle the most recent rise. Badger intervention remains a key component of that Strategy. For comparison, Northern Ireland’s herd incidence, at the end of March, was 8.32%.

The eradication of bTB from Northern Ireland remains one of my top priorities and I have on the 16 July launched a public consultation on the new bTB Eradication Strategy, including proposals for wildlife intervention.

Following consideration of the responses to that consultation, it is my intention to progress implementation of the new Strategy, so that we can move towards eradication of this devastating disease from Northern Ireland