Item 9. I move to the second short debate, and I call on Janet Finch-Saunders to speak to the topic she has chosen.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I've agreed to give Samuel Kurtz, Sam Rowlands and James Evans a minute each to contribute to this important debate.

Now, the Minister knows, and maybe Members of this Senedd are not too aware, that sheep scab is a highly contagious and insidious disease that impacts on animal welfare and leads to economic losses. As you may or may not know, it is triggered by mites that live on the skin of the sheep, causing lesions, severe itching, loss of wool and, ultimately, a loss in production. A single mite can ultimately lead to an infection that spreads throughout a flock and also to neighbouring flocks. Infected sheep suffer from an intense pruritus that they will attempt to relieve by scratching to the point of ignoring all other activity whilst causing significant self-harm. Failure to properly treat this infection can cause serious economic losses due to rapid loss of body condition, low birth weights, higher lamb mortality from infected ewes and the downgrading or condemnation of carcasses at slaughter. 

The severity of the situation is very clear when considering that, in 2010, a study identified 36 per cent of Welsh sheep farms as having an outbreak in the previous five years. Scab outbreaks were reported on 15.8 per cent of Welsh farms in 2015, and it is estimated that the cost of the disease to the industry in Wales could be in excess of £5 million per annum. So, we need to get a grip on this disease in this country, because if we don't, serious welfare and production implications will persist. Now, ADAS has considered the cost of delayed diagnosis and unsuccessful and inappropriate treatments, and the associated loss in production. The production losses were found to be in the region of £20 per ewe. For a 500-head flock, the costs of a misdiagnosed and poorly treated outbreak were deemed to be in the region of £10,000. The average flock in Wales is 700, which pushes the estimated production loss to around £14,000.

Current treatments for sheep scab infestations rely on either injectable endectocides based upon macrocyclic lactones—MLs—or organophosphate dips. Now, the use of these products to counter a scab infection will lead to lengthy and inconvenient meat withdrawal periods. So, there has to be the ultimate aim here in Wales for this to be eradicated, and this is achievable. Norway, Sweden and the USA have eradicated sheep scab. In fact, previous UK eradication programmes were successful; eradication was achieved here in 1952 and the UK remained free of sheep scab until it was reintroduced from Ireland in 1973. So, I believe, and I'm actually quite confident, that Wales, with the right support from the Welsh Government, can achieve the desired outcome again. In fact, I think this is a rare area of agricultural policy that we may actually agree on, Minister. Indeed, I welcome that Farming Connect have stated the following:

'The best long-term solution to scab treatment is to eradicate the disease from Wales and the rest of Britain. The best chance we have of achieving this is if farmers take a collaborative approach to tackling the disease.'

Now, you will be aware of the report, 'Tackling scab: a farmer-led approach', and the steps farmers in some areas are taking to improve levels of farm biosecurity, such as maintaining fencing and checking for gaps, shared rubbing areas, double fencing where possible, and co-ordinating treatments with neighbouring farmers. However, that project is due to end this year. Similarly, the interim measure of free examination of skin samples from sheep showing suspected clinical signs of scab ended on 31 March 2021. So, we need action now, and you have a key role to play in this, Minister.

In 2019, in January, you committed £5 million of Wales's rural development programme funding for sheep scab eradication. So, I'm not alone in being extremely disappointed that this has still not found its way to the industry. In response to a question asked on the matter at the NFU Cymru conference in November 2020, you actually recognised the importance of the finance being made available to support the industry initiative. Whilst you explained that you had to delay these millions—£5 million—because of COVID-19, I understand that you gave an assurance that the scheme was at the top of your priorities when looking at future budget allocations. However, by 15 March 2021—just two years later—you have toned down your commitment, as you wrote to the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee, and stated,

'It remains our intention to carry the requirement forward for future Wales RDP consideration, but can give no guarantee regarding the possibility of new and specific funding at this stage'.

The industry-led project to help eradicate the disease on farms had previously reached the stage of selecting a good express-of-interest application to take forward. As you have stated yourself, Minister, doing nothing is not an option. So, it is vitally important that the funding is made available and not redirected this time. In fact, I agree with NFU Cymru that the £5 million could be allocated from currently unspent funds from the Welsh Government European Union RDP. So, I do hope to hear a commitment from you today that you will do this. The slower you are, the longer Wales will face the problem identified by the Welsh sheep scab group in 2018—no eradication in part due to a lack of funding, multiple competing strategies, and a lack of co-ordination.

It is time to reprioritise the response to scab so that Wales can achieve the roll-out of the strategy developed by farmers, vets and technical experts, in order to lessen the impact of many of the problems discovered in previous programmes and to enhance high welfare in the sheep industry in Wales. We need to provide significant economic benefits to both individual farms and the industry as a whole. We need to improve knowledge and awareness, reduce the incidence of the disease without any legislative measures, and we need to see the five objectives of the Wales animal health and welfare framework achieved.

Minister, Senedd Members, our farmers across Wales are really suffering at the moment. They feel badly let down about the nitrate vulnerable zones. [Interruption.] It's not a laughing matter. They feel—

It's not.

It's not a laughing matter.

I did not laugh.

The thing is, they feel very let down about the NVZs, they feel very let down about your approach to bovine TB and not listening to the science of the vets. This is an opportunity now for you, Minister, to work with the farmers. Let's all try and eradicate sheep scab, and, please, release that £5 million that you have promised them. Thank you. Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd.

I would like to thank Janet Finch-Saunders for securing this important debate on sheep scab, and I always welcome activity in this place that highlights the difficulties that Welsh farmers face in feeding the nation.

The recent Amazon Prime programme Clarkson's Farm also did an excellent job in highlighting the difficulties that farmers face, as it followed journalist and tv presenter, Jeremy Clarkson in setting up and running his 1,000-acre farm over a 12-month period. Viewers of the programme will know of the anguish that Jeremy Clarkson felt when three of his ewes were struck down by mastitis and were taken to the abattoir, and the sorrow he felt when one of his rams had a sudden and unexpected death due to a twisted intestine. Farmers care deeply about their flock. Sheep scab, along with mastitis and twisted intestine, is yet another difficulty that sheep farmers face in trying to keep their flock healthy. I commend Janet for raising this important issue, and also Jeremy Clarkson for highlighting the life of the farmer in a raw and entertaining way. Diolch.

Sam Rowlands. 

Thank you, Mr Deputy Presiding Officer, for calling me. Thank you to Ms Finch-Saunders for raising this important topic this afternoon. As somebody who's spend most of my working life behind a computer screen in an office, I'm not going to stand here and pretend to know the inner details of sheep scab. But I was certainly struck by the references Ms Finch-Saunders made to the allocated funding, which doesn't seem to have been delivered so far. So, I just want to stand here this afternoon and support the calls for that funding to be delivered to that sector as quickly as possible. As I said, as somebody who doesn't know much about the disease itself, certainly hearing about it and the effects it has on our farmers and on the animal welfare certainly as well—it's about time that this was eradicated here in Wales. And if that money can be released as quickly as possible to allow our farmers to work in the best way possible, for the sake of their livelihoods, and for the sake of the animals themselves as well, I'll certainly support that today. Thank you. 

I just want to thank Janet Finch-Saunders for raising this very important topic today in the Chamber. Sheep scab is one of the biggest health issues facing sheep farms in my constituency. As a farmer myself, I've injected ivermectin into sheep and have also done dipping. I've also had an ivermectin injection in my own finger. So, I know exactly what it takes to treat sheep scab promptly. Because without proper treatment, people can have serious economic loss to the business and welfare issues for those sheep affected. The Minister knows this is a topic I'm quite keen on, because she and I have met in a previous life to discuss this. 

There are solutions to the problem. In Scotland, sheep scab is a notifiable disease. Maybe this is something the Minister would consider, and maybe potentially a compulsory annual clearance of commons to treat sheep for scab to make sure, before they return to the commons, that they don't go back with any infection. I think it would also help if there was greater surveillance of the disease by Welsh Government, and, also, consideration given to the use of surveillance blood tests in the flocks that are using common land, because it is possible to use blood tests to detect the antibodies that the sheep who have been exposed to scab might have before they develop clinical signs of the disease.

I hope the Minister will take these points on board. As she knows, I'm very keen to work with her to address this problem, because it does affect our own farm and it's an absolute nightmare of a disease. Thank you. 

I call on the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd to reply to the debate—Lesley Griffiths. 

Diolch, Deputy Presiding Officer. I quite agree with Janet Finch-Saunders; it is absolutely not a laughing matter. Sheep scab is one of the most contagious diseases of sheep in Wales, and it's a really difficult challenge to our sheep industry. Eradicating this disease is important not just to me but for everyone who cares about the health and welfare of our national flock. Affected animals can suffer greatly and this disease is major threat to sheep welfare. Bristol university, in a recent study, estimated that sheep scab costs the UK industry between £78 million and £202 million every year in terms of production losses and treatment expenses.

Therefore, I cannot emphasise enough the importance of industry working in partnership and sharing the responsibility of eradicating sheep scab from Wales with Government and the animal health and welfare framework group, who have long recognised this issue and made it a priority. Janet Finch-Saunders says that farmers need to take a collaborative approach to the disease, and then every Member who's contributed seems to put everything on the Welsh Government. We have had free testing, we ran a pilot scheme over the winter, and we have worked very closely with the industry in relation to sheep scab. The keepers of our 9.5 million ewes and lambs in Wales count on us all to work together if we are going to tackle this disease. 

Here in Wales, the disease is addressed through the Wales animal health and welfare framework, and I want to remind Members of its goals, all of which are impacted upon by sheep scab. Wales has healthy, productive animals. Animals in Wales have a good quality of life. People trust and have confidence in the way food is produced. Wales has a thriving rural economy and Wales has a high-quality environment. I'll return to these goals as they really do relate to sheep scab. Our framework also sets out key principles in the way these goals will be achieved. They're particularly relevant to the effective control and eradication of sheep scab, so I would like to focus on them.

Firstly, the principle of prevention is better than cure, and this means that those who keep sheep have a responsibility to practise good biosecurity and prevent them from becoming infected with the sheep scab mite. Most sheep farmers in Wales of course do so as part of the health planning process with their vet, but some of their efforts are put at risk by a small minority who do not. Maintaining secure boundaries, investigating the health status before purchasing, quarantining newly bought-in sheep and using routine preventative measures are paramount to the stopping of the spread of scab.

The second principle is understanding and accepting roles and responsibilities. For sheep scab, this means each and every keeper of sheep recognising their responsibility to ensure that their animals are kept free of scab. They have a duty to notify local authorities of cases of sheep scab on their farm and other farms and to treat it immediately and effectively if it does occur.

The third principle is working in partnership, and whilst sheep scab is primarily the responsibility of individual sheep farmers and the broader sheep industry, it is a priority for our animal health and welfare framework group and this has led to useful support, including financial, to bring about improved control. Our framework group commissioned a study from the University of Bristol in 2018 to determine the prevalence of the disease in Wales. Sixteen per cent of the Welsh farmers who responded to the study survey said that their sheep had had scab in the previous year. However, recent reports of resistance to the injectable treatment on Welsh farms may destabilise this pattern in the future.

In collaboration with the Animal and Plant Health Agency, we've also funded two periods of free sheep scab testing for sheep farmers in Wales who suspect their sheep may be infected. These have been highly successful in raising awareness of the importance of obtaining an accurate diagnosis in order to instigate effective treatment. We've also sponsored a proof of concept pilot project to implement new and innovative ways to control sheep scab. The project facilitated local disease control groups to take ownership of outbreaks when they occurred and empowered sheep keepers to work collectively to stamp out the disease in the area.

The project trialled the use of an innovative ELISA blood diagnostics test to identify scab in neighbouring at-risk flocks. and, with the 'one health' agenda in mind, an environmentally conscious treatment by using mobile dipping units to safely and effectively treat affected flocks. The treatments for sheep scab are now very limited and have to be used appropriately if they are to remain effective. The use of professional mobile dippers is an effective way to treat the disease without the risk of environmental damage and resistant strains in mites.

Returning to the goals of our framework, effective control of sheep scab, both on a local and national scale, is essential. Sheep must be scab free to be productive and to have a good quality of life. Our industry must relieve itself of the cost of this disease, which needs to be controlled for consumers to have confidence in Welsh lamb. Treatments must be administered correctly for our environment to be protected. Eradicating sheep scab is no less ambitious set against an uncertain landscape. However, we will continue our unwavering focus on making improvements in standards of health and welfare for all animals kept in Wales. Our core principle—prevention is better than cure—is central to our work as we promote active animal health planning and the considerable benefits it can provide for individual farm businesses and the wider industry in Wales. Diolch. 

Thank you, Minister. That brings today's proceedings to a close.

Have a safe journey home, everyone.

The meeting ended at 18:24.