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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to protect badger populations in Surrey Heath constituency.

Defra is not taking action specific to Surrey Heath. However, nationally we are taking action to protect badgers. Badger persecution is one of the seven UK wildlife crime priorities. The UK Badger Persecution Priority Delivery Group, of which Defra is a member, recently re-launched its Operation Badger initiative. This aims to increase awareness of criminal activity such as illegal trapping, poisoning, and sett disturbance that threaten badgers and to educate and encourage reporting of suspected crimes against badgers.

The Government has also acted quickly to start work on a comprehensive new bovine TB strategy for England, to continue to drive down disease rates to save cattle and farmers’ livelihoods and end the badger cull by the end of this Parliament.