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

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the minimum and maximum kill targets for each area for the intensive badger cull that began around 1 September.

On 30 August, the Government announced the start of work on a comprehensive new strategy for England, to drive down bovine tuberculosis (TB) rates to save cattle and farmers' livelihoods and end the badger cull by the end of this parliament. This will be under-taken in co-design with farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists, ensuring the new strategy marks a significant step-change in approach to tackling this devastating disease.

The published policy guidance as introduced by the previous Government requires Natural England to set a minimum and maximum number of badgers to be removed for bovine TB disease control purposes. These numbers are published annually on GOV.UK and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-authorisation-for-badger-control-in-2024.