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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of released gamebirds in captive bird operations are registered with the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

Under avian influenza rules in England, gamebirds include pheasants, partridges, ptarmigan, grouse or moor game, black (or heath) game and ducks bred for shooting, and once game birds have been released, they are classed as wild birds. The person who released the gamebirds is no longer classed as the keeper of the birds. Prior to release, gamebirds are classified as kept poultry.

Registration with the Animal Plant Health Agency is mandatory for all keepers of over 50 poultry (voluntary registration is also available for all bird keepers with less than 50 birds). 8857 gamebird establishments are currently registered with APHA. Local authorities are responsible for enforcement of both avian influenza disease control rules and poultry registration. Defra and APHA do not hold data on the level of compliance with poultry registration requirements amongst establishments that release game-birds.