respond to the Select Committee 's 2008 report on the incentives and financing that the Government of whom he was a member were giving to farmers for biosecurity measures? We received no answer. Does he regret that now? I will come on to what the previous Government did at DEFRA when I was Minister of State. The hon. Lady will forgive me, but I do not have the record for 2008. I know that her Committee did sterling work on the subject and respect the activity in which it was involved. My former boss at DEFRA, my right hon. Friend Hilary Benn , states in an article to be published today: "Some of the facts are agreed. Bovine TB is a terrible disease. It has a huge impact on the farmers affected and they are understandably desperate to find their way out of this nightmare." He goes on to say: "But we all have a responsibility to take action that will work." That is the starting point for our disagreement with the Government. The forced delay to Government plans announced this week shows how difficult the subject is. There is no easy answer and that is why I want to refer to comments made by the Secretary of State on Tuesday. He said in his statement: "The previous Government took forward the RBC T in a whole series of trials and then stopped and decided to do nothing." With the greatest of respect to the Secretary of State , that