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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the article on the Puckeridge Hunt in the Hertordshire Mercury published on 8 February 2018, whether he will (a) make an assessment of the risks of laying scent trails and (b) make and assessment of the potential merits of banning the laying of scent trails.

The Hunting Act 2004 came into effect on 18 February 2005 and bans all hunting of wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales, except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions set out in Schedule 1 to the Act. Many hunts have since turned to trail hunting as an alternative to live quarry hunting.

The Government neither has plans to assess the risk of laying scent trails nor to assess the merits of banning the laying of scent trails. There are also no plans to assess the risks posed by hunting hounds using scents laid by trail hunts drifting across the transport network.