Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many individual shoot licence applications her Department has received in each of the last (a) six and (b) twelve months.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
During 2022 Natural England received 7 individual Licence applications for the release of gamebirds (common pheasants and/or red-legged partridges) on and/or with 500m of a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) or a Special Protection Area (SPA).
As of 21 June 2023, Natural England has received 84 Individual Licence applications for the release of gamebirds on and/or within 500m of those Sites.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the statutory guidance entitled GL43: licence to release common pheasants or red-legged partridges on certain European sites or within 500m of their boundary published on 31 May 2023, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of that statutory guidance on (a) gamekeepers' jobs, (b) the rural economy and (c) conservation.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government supports gamebird shooting for all the benefits it brings to individuals, the environment and the rural economy. The Government wants to see a vibrant working countryside that is enhanced by a biodiverse environment. We recognise the valuable role gamekeepers play in protecting and enhancing biodiversity through habitat management and predation control and we support the valuable role shooting provides to the rural economy. We monitor the impacts of many different rural businesses have on the rural economy and factor that into decision making whenever possible. We recognise the challenges that avian influenza presents and are considering how we can mitigate the impact on the shooting interests and the wider community.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether Leighton Hall Estate has been granted an individual licence to shoot.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Defra minister responsible is working with Natural England to ensure applications are processed promptly and within the 30-working-day customer service standard. We cannot comment on individual licence decisions.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an estimate of the average number of days taken for individual licences to be granted by Natural England for shoots in or near Special Protection Areas in the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Defra Minister responsible has assumed responsibility for the decision making of individual licence applications for SPAs following the changes to General Licence 43 (GL43). Natural England is responsible for processing the applications and providing recommendations to Defra ministers. As at 19 June, Natural England has recommended issuing 3 individual licences which would authorise the release of a specified number of gamebirds at the specified site in the licence. The Minister has considered these applications and granted the individual licences.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she made an assessment of the potential merits of consulting on the withdrawal of GL43 licences from special protection areas prior to implementing that policy.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Defra minister responsible has taken this decision following initial advice from the statutory nature conservation body, Natural England to reduce the risk of impact of avian influenza on rare and protected wild bird populations. We informed stakeholders on 10 May, based on their feedback we sought further advice from Defra’s Chief Scientific Officer prior to issuing final decision on 31 May.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of withdrawing GL43 licences from special protection areas on the finances of rural businesses; and whether she plans to provide compensation to estates that (a) do not receive and (b) are delayed in receiving a licence.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government supports gamebird shooting for all the benefits it brings to individuals, the environment and the rural economy and will work with the industry to try to mitigate any potential impact.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her decision to withdraw GL43 licences from special protection areas, what steps she is taking to protect common pheasants and red-legged partridges (a) in Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency and (b) generally.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Whilst birds are under the control of an individual whether on a permanent or temporary basis (including common pheasants and red-legged partridge), they are protected by the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
We are unable to comment on individual constituencies.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of shoots that are likely to be affected by the decision to remove special protection areas from General Licence GL43.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
As of 14 June 2023 we have received 58 applications, we have sent out 119 application packs and have had 456 hits on the website regarding this. We are working closely with those affected and will support them through the licencing process.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cases of Avian Influenza have been found on the Leighton Hall Estate in my Constituency in the past 100 years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK is currently in the largest ever outbreak of avian influenza. Outbreaks of avian influenza in both kept and wild birds have occurred at an unprecedented scale across Europe and the UK with cases continuing to be confirmed into year two of the outbreak for the first time.
We do not comment on individual premises nor hold a full dataset on cases of avian influenza for the past 100 years, however, based on the available information, there have been no outbreaks of notifiable avian influenza confirmed in the Morecambe and Lunesdale Constituency (Since 2006).
In terms of wild bird findings, since 2017, there has been a wild bird finding in a tufted duck near Carnforth in 2017, a finding in a mallard near Carnforth in 2021, a finding in a mute swan near Whittington in 2021, and a finding in a common buzzard near Carnforth in 2022. These have all been in the Morecambe and Lunesdale Constituency. Findings of Avian Influenza in wild birds are published online and can be found on Gov.uk.
Epidemiological reports setting out our investigations into previous outbreaks of avian influenza in Great Britain have been published and are available on Gov.uk.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
What steps he is taking to support the dairy industry during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Dairy farmers are crucial in ensuring that food supplies remain resilient during this difficult period. In addition to the various HM Treasury COVID-19 support packages, Defra has introduced specific measures to support the dairy industry during the COVID-19 outbreak, particularly those impacted by the loss of the food service sector. These include a dairy support scheme, easements to competition law, support for an AHDB milk promotion campaign and the opening of various intervention and storage aid schemes.