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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department's study to determine whether cage-based breeding can meet the needs of game birds, reference AW1303 has made; what the cost of that study was; and for what reason the findings of that study have not been published.

The study commissioned by Defra to provide scientific evidence on whether cage-based breeding for pheasants and partridges can fully meet birds’ needs has been completed and is now being peer-reviewed. The study was commissioned in 2009 and was due to cost approximately £800,000. In 2010 Ministers reduced the cost to £426,000. The study will be published once the peer review is complete, later this year.