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

Sectors and Groups Affected

The main group affected would be those who own or keep bovine animals on a premises in Scotland, as their cattle may at some point become affected or suspected of being affected by bovine TB, however the policy changes will only affect those who keep bovine animals which have, or are suspected of having, TB infection. Farmers who are selling cattle to Scotland from a TB High Incidence Area (HIA), or those who keep animals in a Low Incidence Area (LIA) where the animal has lived a period of their life in a HIA, will be affected by the changes to pre-movement testing.

Veterinary representative organisations expressed in the consultation that vets may be affected by these proposals as it will bring changes to the period in which a TB pre-movement test is valid, meaning they have a shorter window to undertake the test prior to the animal’s movement. The Scottish Government believes the benefits of this proposal outweigh the impact of the reduced testing window for private vets to carry out the pre-movement test. Further testing would be required to move cattle at the end of a breakdown, however this will predominantly affect vets in a HIA, as the cattle in these areas will be the ones which will mainly be affected by changes to pre-movement testing requirements.