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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, of the potential impact of a lack of nest sites, including buildings, on Red Listed cavity-nesting birds.

Cavity nesting birds in England that use buildings, and which are on the Red List (Birds of Conservation Concern), are the house sparrow, house martin, swift and starling. While Defra has not made an assessment of the potential impact of a lack of nest sites, Natural England, working with its partners, has identified that the lack of nest sites is one of the pressures on these species. Therefore, provision of nest boxes may aid recovery alongside other actions, such as to increase food resources.