Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government which deer species they consider should be eliminated from the UK, if any.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The deer impacts policy statement sets out a plan to sustainably manage wild deer in England so that they are not a threat to environmental, social or economic goals. It does not set targets for individual species as impacts vary across the country, depending on the number of species present, their activities and levels of abundance in an area. We are encouraging regional and landscape-scale approaches.

Defra will seek to review relevant invasive deer species, with respect to potentially listing them as species of special concern alongside Muntjac.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assistance the Environment Agency provides landowners to help them prevent illegal waste sites from being established on their land.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Environment Agency (EA) asks that landowners report illegal waste activity immediately on its 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60, or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 to enable early intervention.

The EA will investigate illegal waste activity to, where possible, identify the perpetrator and require them to clear the waste, taking appropriate enforcement action to punish and deter.

The EA collaborates with partners such as National Farmers Union and Royal Chartered Institute of Surveyors to run communication campaigns aimed at educating landowners. We work with partners locally such as rural police crime teams to raise awareness and share information to combat waste crime.

The EA encourages landowners to check empty land and property regularly to ensure it is secure, stopping criminals from gaining access.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made, if any, of the proportion of wild venison which meets the British Quality Wild Venison standard.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has not made an estimate of the proportion of wild venison that the meets the British Quality Wild Venison standard. Defra continues to provide grants for capital items, training and projects related to wild venison and supported the creation and implementation of the British Quality Wild Venison Standard. Defra will continue to support the wild venison supply chain, including continuing to facilitate GB Wild Venison Working Group to improve resilience and traceability, and promote the British Quality Wild Venison Standard, with the aim of increasing demand for wild venison.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what targets exist for the increase in consumption of wild venison through public procurement.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is exploring the use of public procurement to increase consumption of wild venison but has not set any targets. The serving of wild venison needs to be a local decision made by the appropriate procurement professional who is best placed to understand the needs of their customers and how to balance those needs with the constraints of the supply chains in which they are operating.

Found: Letter dated 25/02/2026 from Lord Katz to Lord Roborough regarding opportunities to use technology more