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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has he made of the potential impact of the Rodenticide Stewardship Scheme on bird species populations and their health.

The Rodenticide Stewardship Scheme is overseen by the Government Oversight Group (GOG) for Rodenticide Stewardship. This group is chaired by the Health and Safety Executive and includes representatives from relevant Government departments and agencies. It is conducting a review of rodenticide stewardship to consider how it can be strengthened in the UK. The work of this review is expected to be completed in 2025.

Natural England has investigated exposure and effects of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) on non-target bird species. It commissioned the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS) to undertake monitoring of, and reporting on, exposure of red kites to SGARs. The analysis examines data including from the Defra-funded Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme data, and the reports are published and presented to GOG annually. Secondly, to understand the implications of SGAR exposure levels on the health of predatory birds, Natural England has worked with PBMS, using red kite and buzzard exposure data to develop a statistical model, to predict the probability of mortality rates due to SGAR exposure. More data and work would be required to apply the model and directly answer the question on impacts at a population level.