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

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the normal turnaround time between (1) receiving an application for a licence to shoot avian predators, and (2) notification of decision; and what are the principal reasons for refusal to approve licence applications.

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

Natural England aims to assess individual licences within 30 working days.

Most licences are renewals. These have a streamlined application process and light touch reassessment process, whereby licensees indicate that they want to renew their licence when they submit their licensing report at the end of the licence period.

To shoot avian predators to prevent serious damage to fisheries or inland waters, specific legislative and policy tests relevant to the species and purpose must be satisfied for a licence to be granted.

For cormorant licensing:

• Serious damage is being, or is likely to be, caused by cormorants at the site.
• Non-lethal anti-predation measures have either been tried and found to be ineffective or are impracticable
• Shooting will reduce or prevent increasing levels of damage

For herons, mergansers and goosanders:

• All other reasonable non-lethal solutions have been tried and/or shown to be ineffective

• There is a genuine problem/need
• There is no satisfactory alternatives
• The licensed action will be effective at resolving the problem and is proportionate to the problem

If any one test cannot be satisfied, this will be the basis for refusing a licence application.