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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support (a) farmers and (b) landowners wishing to restore wild beavers on their land.

This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

Farmers and landowners who would like to reintroduce wild beavers on their land must first submit an Expression of Interest, which will be assessed by Natural England (NE). Projects likely to meet the licensing criteria will be invited to make a full application.

A licence is needed to release any beavers into the wild. Applications will be considered against comprehensive wild release criteria. These criteria have been designed to ensure only high-benefit, low-risk projects are licenced, and that beavers are reintroduced at a measured pace in a well-managed way.