Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many game farms are operational in England and Wales; and how many of them are registered with the Poultry Register.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is no official definition of a game farm in the UK, and the England and Wales Kept Bird Register only details keepers of bird species that might be released for shooting. The following data was extracted from the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s database:
| ENGLAND | WALES | ||
Flock Size | Premises* | Birds | Premises* | Birds |
0-49** | 1,430 | 9,632 | 107 | 854 |
50-999 | 1,795 | 765,701 | 86 | 36,960 |
1,000-9,999 | 1,879 | 5,671,620 | 77 | 259,840 |
10,000-99,999 | 665 | 18,074,681 | 54 | 1,704,480 |
100,000 | 70 | 15,628,895 | 2 | 240,750 |
TOTAL | 5,839 | 40,150,529 | 326 | 2,242,884 |
* Indicates the presence of at least one flock of pheasants, partridges or ducks reared for shooting were kept. It will also include ornamental species and keepers that buy in and rear birds.
** Flocks where no usual stock number has also been recorded.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many outbreaks of Avian Influenza occurred on game farms in 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There were no outbreaks of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) on game farms in England during 2024.
There were 17 outbreaks of HPAI in England during 2024 but none of them were on game farms.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the current period of prolonged frost and frozen ground on the ability of woodcock to feed; and whether she intends to exercise existing powers to introduce a temporary suspension of woodcock shooting during this period.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Managed by JNCC, the Severe Weather Scheme is designed to help with the conservation of birds listed at Schedule 2 Part 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, including woodcock, by reducing disturbance during periods of prolonged cold weather through voluntary restraint and then statutory suspension of shooting.
The threshold for the minimum number of days of freezing weather which would trigger voluntary restraint in England has not been met this winter. However, JNCC remains in regular discussion with Defra, the British Association of Shooting and Conservation, and environmental organisations on the impact to birds of the current and forecast cold weather.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her Department's answer of 20 October 2025 to Written Question 80401: Pet Travel Scheme, what recent steps she has taken to negotiate a pet passport scheme.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have begun negotiations with the EU on the SPS agreement.
As announced at the UK-EU Leaders' Summit on 19 May 2025, the UK and EU have agreed to work towards a common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area, which will mean taking pets on holiday into the EU will become easier and cheaper.
Instead of getting an animal health certificate each time you travel, owners will be able to get a multiuse pet passport valid for travel to the EU. In the meantime, owners will still need an Animal Health Certificate for their dog, cat or ferret if they are travelling from Great Britain to an EU country.
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