Bovine TB £200m cost 'poor value'

The cost of controlling Bovine TB has been criticised

Controlling Bovine Tuberculosis has cost the taxpayer £200m over the past 10 years, the Assembly's Public Accounts Committee has said.

The PAC has been examining the Department of Agriculture's Bovine TB programme.

Chairman Paul Maskey said that the amount spent over the last decade to merely contain the disease was poor value for money.

"Bovine TB has been a major problem for far too long," he said.

"While progress has been made in reducing its incidence in the last five years, the level remains significantly higher than in 1996 and many times greater than the 1986 level.

"It seems that for several years, the Department lost control over its bovine TB programme, and its subsequent progress has been much too slow.

"DARD has told the Committee that while its programme would not lead to the eradication of bovine TB, it was moving towards limiting the disease.

"This is a damning admission. To have spent £200 million over a 10-year period, merely to contain a disease and with no end to the problem in sight, is poor value for money."

The report also examined biosecurity, with concerns over inadequate boundary fencing and the refusal of DARD to introduce compulsory pre-movement testing of all cattle.

It said there was also a lack of direction and progress in addressing the issue of Bovine TB transmission by wildlife.

In December 2008 it was announced that up to 1,000 badgers would be culled as part of the DARD strategy to combat tuberculosis in cattle herds.