Welsh Government Bovine TB Eradication Programme Board and Technical Advisory Group Meeting: 23 January 2025

The meeting was held on Thursday 23 January 2025, 9.45am to 4.45pm at the Welsh Government Buildings in Cardiff.

Bovine TB Eradication Programme Board

Sharon Hammond: Chair
Alan Gardner
Evan Roberts
Roger Lewis
Gemma Haines
Tori Morgan
Elin Jenkins
Phil Thomas
Nick Collinson
Alan Huxtable

Technical Advisory Group

Glyn Hewinson: Chair
Dai Grove-White
Gareth Edwards 
Gareth Enticott
Gwenllian Rees
Ifan Lloyd 
Keith Cutler
Robert Smith
Sarah Tomlinson 
Sarah Woollatt 

Welsh Government

Richard Irvine
Alison Jones 
Programme Board Secretariat 
TAG Secretariat 
Minute Taker

Guest speakers / Observers

Animal and Plant Health Agency representative
Welsh Government Officials

The Programme Board Chair welcomed members to the meeting and thanked them for giving up their valuable time for the first joint Programme Board (PB) and Technical Advisory Group (TAG) meeting. 

The PB Chair conveyed apologies from Sian Evans and also advised the Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales would be arriving later. 

The Programme Board Chair officially welcomed a new member to the Programme Board, Nick Collinson from the National Trust. 

Members of both the PB, the TAG, APHA representatives and Welsh Government Officials introduced themselves.

The PB Chair provided a brief update of the first Programme Board meeting which included:

• membership of the Board (Nick Collinson from National Trust has been appointed as a member and the PB Chair is looking into appointing a representative from Young Farmers’ Wales and a representative from the farming welfare charities)
• thanking the TAG for their comprehensive paper on Inconclusive Reactors Policies in Wales
• summarising the advice on Inconclusive Reactors that the Programme Board agreed on
• introducing the Programme Board “wish list” exercise to help identify initial priorities

A Welsh Government Official hosted a session on how to use the shared workspace for all members.

The PB Chair organised the meeting attendees into small groups to discuss how they see the ways of working between the PB and the TAG. 

The following points were raised by the groups:

• workload
• process for urgent issues
• need for flexibility with meetings (virtual as well as face to face)
• the consideration of deliverability and incorporation of expert fields not currently within the Programme Board or TAG, such as an economist
• communication with stakeholders
• future joint meetings
• integration of PB and TAG by the Chair of PB attending future TAG meetings and the TAG Chair attending PB meetings

The following ways of working model was formulated and agreed by the group to capture the structure: 

Welsh Government (WG) which encompasses the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs (DFM) and the Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales (CVO) can ask PB or TAG to look into topics and have the final decision on any advice they receive from PB and TAG. PB and TAG work closely together and can both choose the topics they look at and when. All elements work 2-ways (double headed arrows). The PB and TAG Chairs are the centre of the structure as they are the central point of contact which connects all 3 groups (WG, PB and TAG). 

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The Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales led on this agenda item and covered:

• background to the 6-yearly review
• aim to achieve TB free status by 2041
• nothing is off the table
• importance of co-design and partnership working

Members asked questions about data and statistics required on a rolling basis to help monitor the TB situation in Wales and how data and statistics can be used to evaluate the impact of individual policies on the eradication of bovine TB. 

An APHA representative delivered a presentation to members covering:

• bovine TB surveillance testing intervals
• herd incidence rate
• comparing herd incidence rate using Officially TB Free Withdrawn (OTFW) only
• herd prevalence
• persistent breakdowns (the more you look the more you find)
• accurately comparing data from England and Wales, taking into account the different policies such as testing

The Chairs thanked the APHA representative for their insightful comparative data presentation which emphasised the importance of looking at the whole picture when analysing data. 

A Welsh Government Official delivered a presentation on the 6-yearly targets review and covered: 

• Wales TB regions
• 2017 Ministerial announcement setting the targets
• spatial unit progress
• rural Wrexham and mid Wales
• how progress is measured
• World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) definition of Officially TB Free
• considering future milestones

Members had the opportunity for a question and answer session following the presentation.

The Chairs thanked the Welsh Government Official for their informative presentation.

The PB and TAG split into two separate rooms to discuss their priorities and what communications would be needed for 2025 and beyond. Both groups were provided with a list of questions to help open discussion and the “wish-list” developed by the Programme Board at their December meeting. 

At the end of the breakout session, all members returned to the main meeting room to sum-up the discussions from both groups. 

All members reconvened, and the Chairs summed up the discussions from each room. 

Programme Board identified the following priorities: 

• people (considering impact on individuals and their business)
• cattle
• wildlife
• communication

The Technical Advisory Group identified the following priorities:

• governance and co-design
• wildlife (gathering evidence and developing policy advice looking at badgers, deer, camelids)
• testing
• valid impact assessments (economic, environmental/ lay testers)
• communication and incentives 

Both PB and TAG agreed on the need to develop a position paper and a 2025 forward work plan.

They also agreed there needed to be clear, frank and honest communications on the 6-yearly eradication targets review using workshops and webinars not just a single press release. 

Both PB and TAG discussed attending the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show 2025 to meet with stakeholders. 

The next Technical Advisory Group will be held on 10^th April. The next Programme Board Meeting will be held in May, date to be confirmed. 

The Chairs and Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales thanked members and speakers and closed the meeting.