Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Written Evidence


Letter submitted by Ben Bradshaw MP, Minister for Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (BTB 36)

  1.  I welcome the Committee's decision to consider the Government's consultation paper on badger culling as a bovine TB control measure.

  2.  I was interested in the reports of the discussions you had in your evidence session on 7 February, and particularly the issues that were raised around the evidence from the Independent Scientific Group on the Randomised Badger Culling Trial. I agree that we need a clear view on issues such as the impact that improved culling efficiency might have on the levels of perturbation and disease incidence identified by the ISG. These are interesting issues and critical to clarifying the evidence on which we can base policy options and I would have wanted to discuss them with you if I had been asked to give evidence.

For the record, the main questions I have asked the ISG about their conclusions are:

Would an increase in culling efficiency be likely to result in a larger overall beneficial effect on cattle herd breakdown levels, and reduce the edge effect?

Is there likely to be a point at which increased culling efficiency could deliver a reduction in herd breakdowns which is more significant than the adverse impact in the areas outside the culling zones? Could this point be modelled from RBCT data?

What impact on herd breakdowns has there been within the culling areas in areas where there has been no landowner consent to cull? Is there evidence of internal edge effects?

Is there any evidence of perturbation from other badger culling operations and, if so, did it translate into an increase in cattle herd breakdowns?

February 2006





 
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