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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) licences and (b) consents have been issued for (a) game bird release, (b) outdoor sports and (c) leisure and recreation activities on European protected sites under the interim licencing scheme for 2021.

The Government is preparing to introduce an interim licensing regime for the 2021 releases of common pheasant and red-legged partridge within European protected sites and within a 500m buffer zone around the sites. A consultation will be launched shortly proposing a general licence to cover the majority of European Protected Sites. It will not cover consents or include other activities beyond gamebird release.