Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. When I launched the refreshed TB eradication programme 18 months ago, I committed to updating on progress once the complete 2018 data set of TB statistics was available. In 2018, there were 746 new TB incidents in Wales, representing a 5 per cent decrease compared to 2017. However, 11,233 cattle were slaughtered as a result of TB, representing a 12 per cent increase on 2017 figures. This increase is largely due to the heightened sensitivity of testing and the removal of more inconclusive reactors.

We expect this investment in removing infected cattle earlier to reap rewards in the medium term, as we get ahead of the disease. Our refreshed programme regionalised Wales in terms of TB, fundamentally changing the way in which Government and industry view and tackle the disease. Regionalisation created low, intermediate and high TB incidence areas, where different approaches to disease eradication could be implemented, based on the different risks in each area. Our aim is to protect the low TB area from infection and drive down disease in the intermediate and high TB areas.

I am pleased to report we are continuing to protect the low TB area of north-west Wales, seeing a relatively low number of new TB breakdowns. Introducing post-movement testing as part of the refreshed approach is helping to safeguard the area. However, more work needs to be done. There were 34 new TB breakdowns in the low TB area in 2018, an increase from 28 new TB breakdowns in 2017. I call upon low TB area farmers to do all they can to keep bovine TB out.