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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of using raised laying cages for breeding pheasants and partridges on the welfare of those birds.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government remains firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and is aware of the strong public feeling on keeping gamebirds in cages. As stated in the Animal Welfare Strategy, the Government will improve its understanding of the welfare issues on how gamebirds are reared in the gamebird sector through issuing a call for evidence.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate his Department has made of the number of homes in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency to be fitted with low-carbon heating systems under policies supporting Carbon Budget 7.

Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Information on heat pumps and biomass boilers installed through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is published in Table Q1.3 of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme Statistics release. By the end of March 2026, 238 heat pumps and fewer than 5 biomass boilers had been installed in North East Somerset and Hanham.

At least 16 further air source heat pumps had been installed under the Energy Company Obligation by the end of March 2026, as published in Table 3.7 of the Household Energy Efficiency Statistics release.

Heat pumps may also have been installed under other schemes, but constituency-level data are not published.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of tidal power on achieving Carbon Budget 7.

Answered by Katie White - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan recognises that while emerging renewable technologies such as tidal stream are expected to play a limited role in the 2030 energy mix, scaling up deployment of these technologies could be critical to achieving the UK’s longer-term decarbonisation goals.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions he has had with the West of England Mayoral Authority on the implementation of Carbon Budget 7.

Answered by Katie White - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department regularly engages with local government on net zero delivery, strategy and policy through the Local Net Zero Delivery Group, and with Metro Mayors through quarterly roundtables.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department last commissioned research on the ecological effects of gamebird shooting.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra’s Gamebird Research Programme has recently published the findings of a number of research projects relating to the ecological impacts of gamebird shooting and associated activity. Whilst some research projects are ongoing, Natural England is planning a collaborative workshop to review these findings.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of released gamebirds on populations of native invertebrates, reptiles and ground-nesting birds.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra’s Gamebird rapid evidence review was published in 2020 and is available here. Further research into these findings was published in 2025 and again this year, available here and here respectively. Defra has also funded research into the impacts of gamebird release on invertebrates. The PhD studies were commissioned by Natural England and the results are available here.