I thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary, and I do welcome some elements and I will be raising concerns about others.

The intensive action area—the IAA—does lie within the region that I’ve represented for 10 years now, so I know only too well what a blight bovine TB is, and the disease has been a chronic and malign affliction for many farmers for many, many years. I am encouraged, however, that the incidence of bTB in the IAA has declined by 35 per cent. That’s 12 per cent more than the comparable in nearby areas. That seems to suggest to me that the measures currently being taken are, indeed, having a very positive effect, and I welcome that you’ve decided to take a different approach to the shambolic policy pursued in parts of England. I do have reservations, however, and I hope that you will be able to reassure me on a number of points.

Members in this Chamber will be aware of my past position on this issue, and I’ve spoken from and voted in line with the scientific evidence. The only credible evidence that we have regarding badger culling and its impact on the spread of bovine TB is from the 10-year randomised badger culling trials conducted by Lord Krebs. It concluded that in order to have even a modest reduction in bTB, 70 per cent of the badger population in an area no smaller than 150 sq km must be eradicated, and that this must be done in a short period of time—that’s about six weeks every single year. But it also goes on to say that if too many badgers are killed, there is a high risk of local extinction and that, indeed, did happen in some areas of the Irish Republic. It also goes on to say that if you don’t kill enough badgers, you risk perturbation, and that spreads the disease even further and wider. So, my question has to be, Cabinet Secretary: how does the proposed action of trapping and terminating diseased badgers, and possibly microchipping them, stack up against those Krebs recommendations, and how is it actually going to make any difference whatsoever? You know my views on badger culling, and I will repeat them yet again; I will not support it.

I also want to raise other questions about the spread of bTB in relation to slurry on farms. I do understand that grazing on land where manure and slurry is spread is not recommended for two months, and that is because the infection can stay within the manure and slurry for up to six months. Can you clarify then whether it is compulsory for all manure and slurry to be stored for six months prior to spreading? And would you consider enforcing the two-month grazing moratorium that is currently recommended?

My final point that I want to ask is: what other assessments have you made about the potential spread to cattle of bTB from foxhounds? Twenty five foxhounds from the Kimblewick hunt tested positive for bTB earlier this year. I don’t know whether we’ve done anything in Wales in terms of testing foxhounds in Wales, but what I do know is that there are around 20 hunts in west Wales. Do you not think, therefore, Cabinet Secretary, that it might be actually prudent to suspend all hunting with hounds until at least the risks are properly assessed?