Tuberculosis (Scotland) Amendment Order 2022: business and regulatory impact assessment

Consultation

Within Government

SG have consulted with the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) as our lead operational delivery partner for implementing Scottish Government's TB control policy and implementation of the proposed changes consulted on in 2022.

Initially the plan was to consolidate the current legislation and bring in a number of amendments in 2022, however, APHA will need time to implement the changes to operational instructions. As such only one amendment is being taken forward at this time as a priority. A full consolidation with a more complete set of changes will be introduced in Spring next year to ensure APHA can deliver the legislative changes made at an operational level. This will also provide sufficient time for Scottish Government to update industry stakeholders on the forthcoming changes. Consolidating and bringing in a number of further amendments to this instrument remains a top priority, as consolidation will make the legislation more accessible and the amendments will further strengthen disease control policy.

SG also consulted with colleagues in Defra and the Welsh Government at an early stage to review both current provisions and recent disease control amendments for bovine TB within their jurisdictions and to identify what other changes are being considered for the future. Colleagues in the devolved administrations have been kept up to date through groups such as the TB Liaison Group, the Cattle Vaccination group and the Badger Vaccination group.

Both Defra and the Welsh Government have run consultations within the last year relating to legislative changes and the outcomes of these consultations have been considered as part of these proposals.

Public Consultation

The consultation on changes to the TB Order ran from 9^th May 2022 until 1^st August 2022 on Citizens Space, a total period of 12 weeks. This consultation was on the proposals to introduce changes to disease control measures and compensation arrangements for TB in Scotland.

The consultation received 19 responses and this included 7 key stakeholder organisations, such as National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS), the Scottish Beef Association (SBA), the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA). Disease control for Bovine TB is a specialised subject, and so a limited number of responses is not entirely unexpected.

The consultation helped to gauge attitudes towards these proposals and make informed and proportionate decisions on whether proposals should be taken forward or not. It also helped to identify any unanticipated impacts that these changes would have on the farming industry.

The responses provided useful feedback which has been used to inform decisions on how Scotland's TB policy will be developed. It was clear that there is support among the various respondent groups for the changes proposed. SG has therefore decided to take forward six out of the eight changes consulted on.

Changes being implemented at this time (Amendment Order 2022)

• Amend the provisions for the application of diagnostic tests, to include a requirement for the prior written permission of Scottish Ministers where non-statutory and private samples are taken with the intention of applying a diagnostic test for TB. – The majority of respondents agreed with this proposal (73.68%), with many supporting on the grounds that this provides a full picture of disease surveillance. Of those who disagreed there was some misunderstanding that this may impact on the work of vets undertaking testing, or those who wish to test to dispute their results. It will be made clear in the consultation response that this is not the case and the purpose is to target third parties / private companies who are sampling with the intention of applying TB tests, and rather that conditions will be applied which will give an awareness of the results in Scotland to ensure that the government has a full disease picture.

Changes being implemented in 2023 Consolidation

• 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 cattle at slaughter by 50%.
• Include requirements for 'isolation' in legislation to ensure that proper isolation of reactors and inconclusive reactors is undertaken.
• Reduce compensation for reactors or IRs which are not properly isolated.

Changes not being implemented

• Strengthen the TB isolation requirements by specifying a location for isolation to take place – Although a small majority (52.63%) agreed with this proposal, this would require a significant amount of resource to action and the benefit was not considered to be great enough to change this from the status quo. Instead, a more appropriate route would be to provide clear guidance on the isolation requirements, in tandem with the requirements which will be provided through the legislation as a result of the change outlined above within the measures that will be taken forward in 2023.
• Include a reduction in compensation where subsequent reactors in the herd are found as a result of a failure to properly isolate a reactor or IR . – The majority of respondents disagreed with this proposal (52.63%) with many noting that this would be very difficult to prove and infection could occur for a number of reasons other than insufficient isolation of a reactor. Following internal discussion on the consultation result, it was agreed that proving the source would be difficult and as a result it was decided not to take the proposal forward.

Business

As well as being made publicly available on the Scottish Government website, the consultation was issued directly to a wide range of stakeholder groups including livestock businesses and associations, enforcement agencies and animal health organisations with a potential interest.

The proposals outlined in the consultation were discussed with a range of stakeholder groups at the SG Animal Health and Welfare General Stakeholder Meetings, with regular reminders of where members could respond to the consultation. This group contains members with an active interest in this consultation from a range of organisations, such as the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA), the British Veterinary Association (BVA), Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), and also many individual farmers. This was followed up with written correspondence to encourage these stakeholders to provide their views to the consultation.

Communications

The consultation was advertised through the SG website and through regular posts on the SG social media channels. In addition, the audience of these posts was boosted by organising retweets from the Chief Veterinary Officer Scotland and APHA.