Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of (a) dairy cows and (b) beef cattle in (i) the UK, (ii) England, (iii) Scotland, (iv) Wales, (v) Northern Ireland and (vi) each county in England in (A) 1997, (B) 2002, (C) 2007 and (D) 2012; and what proportion of animals in each such category was slaughtered as a result of contacting tuberculosis.
[125436]
Answer
[holding answer 29 October 2012]: I have arranged for the information requested to be placed in the Library of the House.
Quality assurance work is currently being carried out on historic country and county level bovine tuberculosis statistics, including the number slaughtered as a result of contracting tuberculosis, and these are not all currently available. These will be published during the next few months.
Great Britain statistics are available at:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/statistics/foodfarm/landuselivestock/cattletb/national/
The number of cattle compulsorily slaughtered for bovine tuberculosis in 2012 so far (January to July inclusive) is:
| Number | |
| England | 15,705 |
| Wales | 5,426 |
| Scotland | 198 |
County level population data for 1997 is not readily available, so 1995 has been presented instead.
The population data for 2007 and 2010 is sourced from the Cattle Tracing Scheme administrative data, rather than statistical data as in earlier years. County data for 2010 relates to commercial holdings only, whereas earlier years relates to all holdings. The data is broadly comparable over time, though the impact of changes may be greater in some counties.
DEFRA does not have responsibility for the production and publication of livestock population statistics for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.