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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings his Department had with the National Farmers' Union in the six months before the start of the pilot badger culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset in 2013; and whether he advised that union to operate a media blackout during the first phase of the culls.

Meetings were held with the National Farmers Union in the six months prior to the start of the pilot culls in 2013.

There was no media blackout during the pilots. Defra and the National Farmers Union continued to make spokespeople available to talk to the media throughout the period in which culling was taking place.

However, both the National Farmers Union and Defra were always clear that operational information that could compromise the effectiveness of the cull or the safety of those involved would not be disclosed during the operation.