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

To ask His Majesty's Government why they propose to remove Goldeneye from Schedule 2(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act; and what evidence there is that shooting is impacting Goldeneye population and sustainability.

Natural England (NE) provided an evidence dossier for the goldeneye as part of a recent government consultation which proposes removing this species from Schedule 2.1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in England. NE recommended that the Government should remove goldeneye from Schedule 2.1 to reduce the potential impact of hunting on the breeding and non-breeding populations, based on the precautionary principle, until more accurate data is available to show that recreational shooting can be managed on a sustainable basis. UK Government Ministers agreed with this assessment.