Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the release of non-native gamebirds on wildlife and native birds in Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) notification provides a key mechanism for the management of terrestrial European sites, which include Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs). This includes a consenting process for operations listed as requiring Natural England’s consent. General guidance on the consenting process is published on the GOV.UK website:
www.gov.uk/guidance/protected-areas-sites-of-special-scientific-interest
Additionally the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 include provisions to manage operations that may damage European sites.
In response to a pre-action protocol letter from Wild Justice in July 2019, last September the Government accepted that in principle the annual release of non-native gamebirds on, or affecting, SACs and SPAs is capable of constituting a “plan or project” requiring appropriate assessment within the meaning of the Habitats Directive.
Whether they will do so in any given case will depend on whether they may have a significant effect on the specific SPA or SAC in question. This will depend in turn on the nature of the activities, the features and condition of the SPA or SAC, the distance from the SPA or SAC where the activities are carried out and the possible effects of the activities. While not accepting the argument that current laws do not provide for appropriate assessment in such cases, Defra committed to undertake a review to consider the legislative arrangements around the relevant activities and whether there are ways in which their effectiveness could be improved, as announced on 11 September 2019 (www.gov.uk/government/news/defra-responds-to-wild-justice-challenge-releasing-gamebirds-on-protected-sites).
The review is looking at the following areas:
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many non-native gamebirds were released in the UK in the most recent 12 month period for which figures are available.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) notification provides a key mechanism for the management of terrestrial European sites, which include Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs). This includes a consenting process for operations listed as requiring Natural England’s consent. General guidance on the consenting process is published on the GOV.UK website:
www.gov.uk/guidance/protected-areas-sites-of-special-scientific-interest
Additionally the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 include provisions to manage operations that may damage European sites.
In response to a pre-action protocol letter from Wild Justice in July 2019, last September the Government accepted that in principle the annual release of non-native gamebirds on, or affecting, SACs and SPAs is capable of constituting a “plan or project” requiring appropriate assessment within the meaning of the Habitats Directive.
Whether they will do so in any given case will depend on whether they may have a significant effect on the specific SPA or SAC in question. This will depend in turn on the nature of the activities, the features and condition of the SPA or SAC, the distance from the SPA or SAC where the activities are carried out and the possible effects of the activities. While not accepting the argument that current laws do not provide for appropriate assessment in such cases, Defra committed to undertake a review to consider the legislative arrangements around the relevant activities and whether there are ways in which their effectiveness could be improved, as announced on 11 September 2019 (www.gov.uk/government/news/defra-responds-to-wild-justice-challenge-releasing-gamebirds-on-protected-sites).
The review is looking at the following areas:
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) guidance and (b) regulations his Department has issued to ensure that there is no detrimental effect caused by the release of non-native gamebirds on local ecology and biodiversity.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) notification provides a key mechanism for the management of terrestrial European sites, which include Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs). This includes a consenting process for operations listed as requiring Natural England’s consent. General guidance on the consenting process is published on the GOV.UK website:
www.gov.uk/guidance/protected-areas-sites-of-special-scientific-interest
Additionally the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 include provisions to manage operations that may damage European sites.
In response to a pre-action protocol letter from Wild Justice in July 2019, last September the Government accepted that in principle the annual release of non-native gamebirds on, or affecting, SACs and SPAs is capable of constituting a “plan or project” requiring appropriate assessment within the meaning of the Habitats Directive.
Whether they will do so in any given case will depend on whether they may have a significant effect on the specific SPA or SAC in question. This will depend in turn on the nature of the activities, the features and condition of the SPA or SAC, the distance from the SPA or SAC where the activities are carried out and the possible effects of the activities. While not accepting the argument that current laws do not provide for appropriate assessment in such cases, Defra committed to undertake a review to consider the legislative arrangements around the relevant activities and whether there are ways in which their effectiveness could be improved, as announced on 11 September 2019 (www.gov.uk/government/news/defra-responds-to-wild-justice-challenge-releasing-gamebirds-on-protected-sites).
The review is looking at the following areas:
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to commission an independent review into the economic, environmental and wildlife impacts of driven grouse shooting.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government will consider the findings of the recently released Werritty Review which addresses these issues in Scotland. We will continue to work to ensure a sustainable, mutually beneficial relationship between shooting and conservation.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which stakeholders Natural England consulted ahead of its decision to revoke General Licences 04/05/06.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Natural England informed the following stakeholders that the licences were subject to challenge on 15 March, and again directly on 23 April when the decision to revoke the contested general licences was announced: the RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts, the RSPCA, the National Farmers’ Union, the Countryside Alliance, the Country Land and Business Association, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, the Moorland Association, the Local Government Association, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, the National Gamekeepers Organisation, the National Pest Technicians Association, the National Wildlife Crime Unit and the Tenant Farmers Association.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ban the shooting of hares in the breeding season.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
I refer the Noble Lord to the written response I gave to question HL12295 on 28 December 2018.
Please find the response below:
Wildlife conservation is a devolved matter so this answer is for England only.
The population of brown hares in England is believed to be stable. The majority of hare shooting occurs in regions where brown hares are locally abundant and leads to no long-term impact on hare populations. There is no evidence to suggest that a closed season would significantly benefit the conservation status of brown hares.
An industry-led initiative resulted in the publication of a code of practice to protect hares in England. This provides for a voluntary close season covering the main breeding season, while allowing farmers to protect their crops from serious damage by hares.
Asked by: Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will introduce a closed season for the hunting of hares.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Wildlife conservation is a devolved matter so this answer is for England only.
The population of brown hares in England is believed to be stable. The majority of hare shooting occurs in regions where brown hares are locally abundant and leads to no long-term impact on hare populations. There is no evidence to suggest that a closed season would significantly benefit the conservation status of brown hares.
An industry-led initiative resulted in the publication of a code of practice to protect hares in England. This provides for a voluntary close season covering the main breeding season, while allowing farmers to protect their crops from serious damage by hares.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will (a) publish a response to EDM 1297 on banning A24 traps that kill hedgehogs and (b) make an assessment of the potential merits of withdrawing the licence for A24 rat traps that kill hedgehogs.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
I have previously responded to the issue raised in EDM 1297 in PQ 138359 17/19 and also directly with various members of Parliament via ministerial correspondence.
The trap is not approved for trapping hedgehogs. We are confident that hedgehogs can be effectively and safely excluded from the Goodnature A24 trap when it is set according to manufacturer’s instructions and an excluder tunnel is (as required by law) used. We are also not aware of any evidence which suggests the A24 trap and excluder tunnels used with it have had any significant impact on hedgehog numbers since its approval.
The use of traps is an important tool in wildlife management, which benefits conservation and a range of economic activities from shooting and agriculture to forestry and eco-tourism. Approving new, more humane and selective trap designs benefits wildlife by improving the welfare of trapped animals and the safety of non-target species.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will develop a strategy to phase out the shooting of seals in the UK.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Seal conservation is a devolved issue meaning separate legislation is in place in Scotland, where 85% of the UK seal population can be found.
We consider that current legislation in England strikes a balance between ensuring protection and welfare for seals with their management if they become problematic to netsmen. We have no plans to change the current legislation in place at this time.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department have had with (i) the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (ii) the Countryside Alliance and (iii) other country sports groups on animal sentience.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra Ministers and officials engage with stakeholders in relation to a range of animal welfare issues including animal sentience. Defra officials had a meeting with representatives of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation where animal sentience was discussed and the Countryside Alliance submitted a contribution to the recent consultation on the draft Animal Welfare (Sentencing and Recognition of Sentience) Bill.