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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the paper by R E Green, M A Taggart, D J Pain, et al ‘Voluntary transition by hunters and game meat suppliers from lead to non-lead shotgun ammunition: changes in practice after three years’, published in the Conservation Evidence Journal in February, which found that three years into the five year voluntary phase-out programme, 94 per cent of pheasants sold in supermarkets were killed with lead shot, what steps they plan to take to end the use of lead shot in hunting in England.

In 2020, nine high-profile shooting organisations released a joint statement calling for an end to lead in ammunition used for taking live quarry with shotguns within five years. We welcomed this move away from lead and are committed to ensuring a sustainable, mutually beneficial relationship between shooting and conservation.

In Spring 2021, Defra asked the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and the Environment Agency to prepare a UK REACH restriction dossier for lead in ammunition. This required both organisations to consider the evidence of risk posed by lead in ammunition on human health and the environment, and therefore, the case for introducing a restriction on lead in ammunition. HSE published restriction proposals in May 2022, setting out a range of options for introducing restrictions on lead in ammunition, and opened a six-month consultation. In January 2023, due to the large volume of consultation responses, HSE announced a six-month extension to its review process, to allow for due consideration of responses to inform the development of its final recommendation. The HSE final opinions are now expected by 6 November 2023. The Defra Secretary of State will be required to make a decision within three months of receipt of the opinions, with the consent of Welsh and Scottish Ministers.