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Bovine TB Eradication Group for England

A new England group on eradication of TB in cattle has been set up to make recommendations to the Secretary of State on bovine TB and its eradication. The membership of the group includes representatives from Defra’s Food and Farming Group, Animal Health, the farming industry and the veterinary profession, and it is convened and facilitated by Defra.

Progress to date and recommendations to the Secretary of State

On 8 October 2009 the TB Eradication Group for England presented its Progress Report to stakeholders. The report outlines progress the TB Eradication Group has made in developing a Bovine TB Eradication Programme for England; the risk-based approach they are taking in identifying and assessing new policies; and changes made following recommendations made to the Secretary of State. These recommendations are:

  • Testing areas: a decision to change the area basis on which testing frequencies are set to a more risk-based rather than administrative boundary based approach;
  • Establish an interim approach to setting testing frequencies, which is intended to be a move in this direction;
  • Inconclusive reactor policy: change to allow only one retest.
  • Providing advice on bovine TB to restricted farms (implementation in early 2010);
  • Providing a dispersal sale option for owners of TB breakdown herds (implementation by the end of October);
  • Revise testing requirements for entry to and within AFUs thereby encouraging more AFUs to be set up (implementation by the end of October);
  • Encourage the setting up of more ‘quarantine units’ for calves as a trade outlet for calves currently killed on farm (implementation by the end of the year); and
  • Providing greater flexibility for short interval testing in breakdown herds in high risk areas (implementation by the end of October).
  • Agree in principle to find a new approach to tackling unconfirmed breakdowns and that the terminology around breakdowns will change.

The Group’s recommendations which have already been implemented by Animal Health are:

  • subject to a veterinary risk assessment, the general movement licence can be used to allow movements of unrestricted cattle on to a TB breakdown herd for the duration of a breakdown;
  • permission to move cattle over longer distances to help facilitate restocking; and
  • movement of untested calves direct to slaughter via approved collection centres will be permitted, so reducing the number that have to be killed on-farm. 

The Secretary of State has agreed with all the Group’s recommendations.

Copies can also be requested from the Group's co-ordinator tberadication.group@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Further details on the calculations for Parish Testing Intervals can be found on the Animal Health website.

On 16 October, the European Commission’s Standing Committee on Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) approved a decision EU funding of monitoring, control and eradication of animal disease programmes for 2010. Their decision includes up to €10 million made available for activities (skin testing, gamma interferon blood testing and compensation) under the UK Bovine TB Eradication Plan for 2010.  Further details can be found at www.defra.gov.uk/news/latest/2009/farm-1016.htm

Remit of the Group

The Group may invite other experts to contribute to its work as necessary, including other industry bodies and wider interest groups. It will also draw on the advice of the Commission’s TB Task Force, which will be invited to visit GB in early 2009.

The Group will review the current TB strategy and control measures and develop a plan for reducing the incidence of bovine TB from cattle in England and moving towards eventual eradication. It will also assess options to help farmers in high incidence areas maintain viable businesses when under disease restrictions.

A priority output from the work of this group will be a series of measures which can be submitted to the European Commission for approval as part of a formal eradication plan. The group may wish to make recommendations on other issues as they arise, and Defra may also choose to refer specific issues to the group.

The group will look at the options available to address infection in cattle and to reduce the risk of transmission between cattle and between cattle and wildlife, and consider costs and benefits in making recommendations for action.

It will consider options for using vaccination in cattle and badgers. It will also consider any exceptional circumstances or new scientific evidence that might arise relating to the established policy on badger culling for control of TB.

In carrying out this work the Group will have full access to information on Defra’s TB budget and be able to make recommendations on its use within Defra’s funding ceilings. It will also be able to make recommendations for additional expenditure where these can be supported by a robust business case.

Members of the Bovine TB Eradication Group for England:

  • Andy Biggs (veterinary profession)
  • Gabrielle Edwards (Defra)
  • Nigel Gibbens (Defra)
  • Brian Harding (Defra)
  • Bill Harper (farming industry)
  • David Maughan (farming industry)
  • Rob Paul (Animal Health)
  • Carl Padgett (veterinary profession)
  • Kevin Pearce (farming industry)
  • Jan Rowe (farming industry)
  • Paul Griffith (farming industry)

The Bovine TB Eradication Group for England met for the first time on 27 November 2008.

If you have any enquiries about the work of the Group, please e-mail the Group’s co-ordinator: tberadication.group@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Meeting highlight notes

Meeting date
Highlight note
19th Meeting: 9th November 2009 At its nineteenth meeting the Group had a discussion with the Minister for Farming and Environment, Jim Fitzpatrick, and received updates on the pre-movement testing review and TB modelling.
18th meeting: 19th October 2009 At its eighteenth meeting the Group discussed its priorities for developing an eradication programme for England and received an update on the analysis of unconfirmed breakdowns
17th meeting: 9th September 2009 At its seventeenth meeting the Group discussed the on-farm slaughter of TB reactors and received a presentation from the Farm Crisis Network.
16th meeting: 12 August 2009 At its sixteenth meeting, the Group considered a range of measures to help farmers affected by TB restrictions and discussed why unconfirmed reactors have really been infected by TB.
Fifteenth meeting: 22 July 2009. At its fifteenth meeting the Group considered the risk of TB in camelid and goat herds; and an initial analysis of unconfirmed breakdowns
Fourteenth meeting: 25 June 2009. At its fourteenth meeting the Group considered the recommendations it would be making to Ministers and possible measures to help maintain farm businesses whilst affected by TB restrictions.
Thirteenth meeting: 9 June 2009 At its thirteenth meeting the Group agreed that a change in TB Terminology would be welcome but needed to be linked to future policy; it discussed possible options for ensuring areas subject to different testing intervals are identified in a way that best supports disease control; and it considered the role badger culling could play in controlling bovine TB in cattle.
Twelfth meeting: 18 May 2009 The twelfth meeting included a discussion on feedback from the visit from the Bovine Tuberculosis Subgroup of the Task Force on Monitoring Animal Disease Eradication; milestones on the path to eradication; ideas to enable farmers affected by bovine TB to maintain their farm businesses; and a meeting with Jane Kennedy, Minister for Farming and the Environment, to discuss the Group’s progress.
Eleventh meeting: 6 May 2009 The eleventh meeting included discussion on the descriptive epidemiology of TB in England and initial mapping and policy prioritisation for the four previously identified areas.
Tenth meeting: 22 April 2009 The tenth meeting included a discussion on the criteria for selection of deployment areas for the Badger Vaccine Deployment Project and recommendations on which areas should be used.
Ninth meeting - 8 April 2009. The ninth meeting included discussion on Animal Health’s Business Reform Programme and a discussion with the TB Advisory Group on its final report.
Eighth meeting: 31 March 2009 The eighth meeting included discussion on the reactions to the announcement of the Injectable Badger Vaccine Deployment Project and a discussion on the post-trial analysis of TB incidence in Randomised Badger Culling Trial.
Seventh meeting: 13 March 2009 The seventh meeting included discussions on testing frequencies and defining testing areas;  changes in TB terminology about confirmed and unconfirmed breakdowns; reducing risk from undisclosed infection; and a meeting with Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State, to discuss the Group’s progress.
Sixth meeting: 23 February 2009 The sixth meeting included a discussion on the review of TB statistics and a discussion on improving the sensitivity of the TB test
Fifth meeting: 10 February 2009 The fifth meeting ncluded a presentation on the Bovine TB Programme budget; a presentation and detailed discussion on the TB Vaccines Programme and the role of vaccination in an eradication programme; and a discussed a paper looking at addressing the routes of infection from badgers and possible control strategies for controlling badgers in high prevalence and edge of high prevalence areas.
Fourth meeting: 28 January 2009 The fourth meeting included a discussion with Jane Kennedy, Minister for Farming and the Environment; an overview of the TB science research programme; discussion and approval of a broad framework for an Eradication Plan for submission to the Commission; and initial discussions about the outline of a review of pre-movement testing.
Third meeting: 15 January 2009 The third meeting included a presentation by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, which looked at the historic trends in bovine TB and recent analyses of the epidemiological data, and discussed a framework for looking in detail at policies which could be included in an eradication plan for England.
Second meeting: 16 December 2008 This second meeting focused on identifying the Group’s priority issues in the wider context of developing an eradication programme.
First meeting: 27 November 2008 The first meeting focused on the operation of the Group.

Page last modified: 18 November 2009