The Tuberculosis (Scotland) Order 2023: business and regulatory impact assessment

Options

Option 1 - Do Nothing (Status Quo) – No legislative changes

Under this option further regulation would not be introduced and current arrangements in relation to bovine TB controls provided by the Tuberculosis (Scotland) Order 2007, as amended, would continue as they are now.

Scotland already has legislation that allows for the control of TB, but from experience over a number of years, lessons have been identified from previous breakdowns in how changes could be implemented to further protect Scotland's industry from breakdowns. If these changes are not introduced, we would not be implementing the lessons that would help to reduce the level of risk and the associated costs.

The early identification and removal of test positive cattle under the existing disease control policy has kept Scotland Officially TB free since 2009.

OTF status is in recognition of the relatively low and stable incidence of TB found in Scottish herds. This does not mean that Scotland has no cases of bovine tuberculosis, but recognises there are relatively few cases, below the threshold for that designation. Scotland does have a small number of new confirmed breakdowns each year.

To do nothing could therefore potentially put Scotland’s OTF status, and the future of the Scottish cattle industry, at risk. This would result in strong criticism from the cattle industry for not taking strong enough action to incentivise compliance and best practice to keep disease out of Scotland.

Option 2 – Introduce changes to TB controls - amend and consolidate the Tuberculosis (Scotland) Order 2007

The second option is to make legislative changes to pre-movement testing, compensation for unclean cattle at slaughter, and isolation requirements.

This option would provide the opportunity to enact the following policies:

• End the practice of accepting a clear final short interval test (SIT) at the end of all TB breakdowns as a valid pre-movement test.
• Shorten the period during which a pre-movement test with negative results remains valid from the current 60 days to 30 days after tuberculin injection.
• Reduce compensation for unclean reactor cattle at slaughter by 50%.
• Include requirements for ‘isolation’ in legislation to ensure that proper isolation of reactors and IRs is undertaken.
• Reduce compensation for reactors or IRs which are not properly isolated.

This would also include a consolidation of the existing legislation in one updated TB Order given that this has been amended several times since the creation of the Tuberculosis (Scotland) Order 2007. This will ensure that legislation remains accessible and up to date.

Scotland’s OTF status is unique within the United Kingdom, and it is necessary to minimise incursions of TB from neighbouring countries. OTF status delivers significant economic benefits for farmers in Scotland and for the Scottish Government, including allowing the exemption of herds which can meet low risk criteria from routine herd testing. Currently, 60.4% of herds are exempt from testing which saves taxpayer money, and government time and resource.

Any number of reactors in Scotland is a threat to OTF status, as the number of infected cattle is very low, and we need to protect the national herd against infection to remain under the appropriate threshold for OTF status. Additionally, as TB is a zoonotic disease, a higher number of cases increases the risk to both public health and animal health and welfare.

As a result, the changes brought in under this legislation have been assessed as necessary and justifiable in order to minimise spread of disease and to protect Scotland’s OTF status.