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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing an (a) regional and (b) national species control scheme for the American mink.

The Government has no plans to assess the potential merits of a national control scheme in England but will continue to work in partnership on local and regional projects. There are examples of successful regional projects to control American mink led by NGOs and volunteer groups, such as the Norfolk Mink Project. The Government’s approach is that individuals should be free to manage wildlife within the law and the Government should only intervene when there is good reason to do so. In the first instance, dealing with problem wildlife is the responsibility of the owner or occupier of the property where the problem occurs.