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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to (a) carry out and (b) take into account additional wildlife surveillance when making his decision on whether to extend the badger culling programme.

On 7 September Natural England published licences for areas that will undertake badger control operations in England this autumn. This includes the reauthorisation of licences for 33 existing areas alongside licences for 11 additional areas. All applications received were carefully assessed by Natural England to ensure that each cull company has suitable arrangements and plans in place to carry out an operation that is safe, effective and humane.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-authorisation-for-badger-control-in-2020

This operational publication is a continuation of the long-term strategy to tackle the animal disease Bovine TB which was published in April 2014.

Prior surveillance for TB infection in badgers is not required to grant licences for the removal of badgers to control the spread of TB in the High Risk and Edge Areas of England.