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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help farmers control wood pigeon.

This is a devolved matter and the following answer applies to England only.

Farmers may operate under the new general licence issued by Natural England on 3 May to control wood pigeons to prevent serious damage to crops. If the circumstances in which they wish to act are not covered by the new licence they may apply to Natural England for an individual licence using the online application system.

The government issued a call for evidence on 4 May to help inform its future decisions on general licences relating to the purposes covered by the three revoked general licences and will set out its next steps shortly.