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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Animal and Plant Health Agency assurance checks are conducted in each badger cull zone to determine the numbers of active setts in those areas (a) before and (b) after annual culls take place; and if she will make a statement.

All cull companies are instructed to carry out a thorough sett survey programme in the spring before each cull in their area. Animal and Plant Health Agency surveyors then carry out a Quality Assurance check on at least 5% of the land parcels at random in areas between their first and second cull.