Lord Roborough

Research indicates that trapping methods used for badger vaccination result in the capture of approximately 50-70% of badgers in a given area, and this level of coverage is associated with significant disease control benefits in badger populations.

Unfortunately the past Government neglected to use its R&D budget to fully explore the problem so information on this subject, as well as badger resurgence rates is not as clear as it might be. The Labour Government has announced that they will use the R&D budget to ensure that decisions to best tackle bovine tuberculosis (TB) are informed by science.

While we are gathering a better understanding on the subject, badger vaccination is now underway in several large areas in England demonstrating that vaccination is feasible at a large scale in a range of situations.

Research from Ireland also suggests that badger vaccination is not inferior to badger culling as a means to control TB in cattle.

The UK continues to fully engage in the ongoing negotiations at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) on the allocation of bluefin tuna quota, with a view to securing a fairer share of the quota when the next ‘Total Allowable Catch’ is negotiated in 2025, to take effect in 2026.

The Government has produced a regulatory impact assessment for the Water (Special Measures) Bill. The impact assessment is currently with the Regulatory Policy Committee for review ahead of publication.

The Government has produced a regulatory impact assessment for the Water (Special Measures) Bill. The impact assessment is currently with the Regulatory Policy Committee for review ahead of publication.

The Government has produced a regulatory impact assessment for the Water (Special Measures) Bill. The impact assessment is currently with the Regulatory Policy Committee for review ahead of publication.

The Government has produced a regulatory impact assessment for the Water (Special Measures) Bill. The impact assessment is currently with the Regulatory Policy Committee for review ahead of publication.

Tackling water pollution, including from slurry, is a priority for this Government. The Environment Agency plays a vital role in supporting the planning system at a strategic and local level to deliver improvements for the environment and will continue to do so.

The UK Government has been actively assessing and adjusting the quota for landing eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT), reflecting the species' resurgence in UK waters. As an independent member of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), in 2023 the UK received a quota of 65 tonnes, which was an increase from previous years. This quota was divided to support both commercial and tag and release scientific fisheries, with 39 tonnes used for a small-scale trial commercial fishery.

In 2024, the UK quota is 66 tonnes. Sixteen tonnes are being used for recreational fishing and 39 tonnes for the continued trial commercial fishery. The remaining quota is being used for commercial bycatch and tagging programmes.

Decisions on how the quota is used have been made to ensure that BFT fisheries meet our international commitments, contribute to delivering Fisheries Act 2020 objectives, and reflect stakeholder interests including both the commercial and recreational sectors. In 2023, Defra commissioned an evaluation of UK BFT fisheries. The report has been published here: Impact Evaluation of Bluefin Tuna Quota Allocation - MF0740 (defra.gov.uk). Defra is continuing to evaluate the social, economic, and environmental impacts of UK BFT fisheries in 2024.

Any changes to the future UK BFT quota will depend on whether the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) established by ICCAT increases or decreases (the next TAC will be established in 2025 for the years 2026-2028) and on the outcomes of ongoing negotiations on quota shares at ICCAT.

The UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) supports both coniferous and broadleaf woodlands. The latest update to the UKFS will come into force on 1 October 2024. All afforestation projects in England should conform to the UKFS requirements to ensure that the right trees are being planted in the right place and version five does not allow a single species to constitute more than 65% of a new forest. Primary and secondary forestry species, as defined by Forest Research, are eligible for funding through the England Woodland Creation Offer; in addition, emerging forestry species can constitute up to 15% of the trees planted although this element will be screened to ensure they are appropriate to the site and local wildlife, and their planting sites are recorded.

The Government has not specifically assessed the impact of badger predation on the nests of UK Red List bird species. However, as opportunistic omnivores badgers have a varied diet and birds comprise only a small proportion of this and then mostly as carrion. While some predation does occur, there is no conclusive evidence that badgers have an impact on the conservation of ground-nesting birds such as lapwing and curlew.

There is already a significant evidence base which underpins the use of badger vaccination as a tool for the control of bovine tuberculosis (TB). Trials on captive badgers, modelling studies and field studies on wild badgers all indicate that badger vaccination will significantly reduce the risk of infection and spread of disease within badger populations. Logically, as badgers cause a proportion of cattle breakdowns each year, and since badger vaccination has been proven to reduce the disease burden in the badger population, vaccination should result in a reduction in TB incidence in cattle where badgers are the source of infection. This has also been demonstrated by large scale field trials in Ireland which found that badger vaccination is not inferior to badger culling at controlling TB in cattle. Vaccination would also play a role in protecting healthy badgers, preventing the spread of TB from cattle to badgers.

On 30 August, the Government announced the start of work to refresh the Bovine TB strategy for England, to end the badger cull by the end of this parliament and drive down disease to save cattle and farmers’ livelihoods. This includes establishing a new Badger Vaccinator Field Force to increase badger vaccination delivery to drive down TB rates and protect badgers.

Wider deployment of badger vaccination will increase opportunities for further research on its effect in badgers and cattle, by creating the large and contiguous areas of vaccination needed to be able to detect an effect. Accordingly, as part of this recent announcement, the Government has committed to rapidly analyse the effect of badger vaccination on the incidence of TB in cattle, to encourage farmers to take part and provide greater confidence that doing so will have a positive effect on their cattle. This will build on the analytical work that is already underway in the Animal and Plant Health Agency using a “herd-level” analysis of historic badger vaccination data.

Protected Landscapes (both National Parks and National Landscapes) will be vital to our national targets, including net zero. We are exploring how the Government can empower them to deliver on their full potential - including in protecting nature’s carbon sinks, such as peatlands and woodlands. The Government welcomes the international leadership from the UK's National Park Authorities in joining the Race to Zero initiative, aiming to become net zero by 2040 and significant carbon sinks by 2050.

We are exploring the inclusion of greenhouse gas removals in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), including the potential inclusion of high integrity woodland carbon, such as Woodland Carbon Units. A consultation was launched in May 2024 and a Government Response will be provided in 2025.

Subject to the outcome of the Spending Review, Defra intends to continue to partner with the British Standards Institution on the Nature Investment Standards Programme.

The Woodland Carbon Code is currently endorsed by ICROA, a leading industry accreditation programme for voluntary carbon market programmes. The Code is supported by a transparent carbon registry and a robust monitoring, reporting and verification system underpinned by third party validation and verification. The Woodland Carbon Code is preparing an application to be assessed for adherence to the Core Carbon Principles Assessment Framework of Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market and will submit as soon as it can.

The Peatland Code is currently in the process of applying to the Integrity Council on Voluntary Carbon Market's Core Carbon Principles. The Peatland Code also applied to ICROA in March this year. The Peatland Code is awaiting conditional endorsement once the first two verifications have been completed this winter. The Peatland Code (PC) validation and verification bodies (VVBs) are undergoing ISO accreditation under the PC by United Kingdom Accreditation Services (UKAS) which is one of the requirements for ICVCM and ICROA.

The forthcoming land use framework for England will consider cross-governmental issues such as energy and food security and how we can expand nature-rich habitats such as wetlands, peat bogs and forests.

Spatial planning will play an important role in the delivery of the Government’s growth and clean energy missions, and the land use framework will work hand in hand with the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan. The Government will also explore the opportunities for spatial planning to support the delivery of other types of infrastructure.