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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what definition is used by his Department for the minimum annual control that is required on the licence to cull badgers in Cumbria; and what the reason is that the Cumbrian licence requirements is the only license issued in September 2018 that does not include minimum and maximum numbers of badgers to be culled.

The definition of minimum annual control is provided on the Cumbria authorisation letter:

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/739750/area-32-cumbria-tb-area-control-licence-redacted.pdf).

The aim of badger culling in the Low Risk Area is to remove all potentially infected badgers as quickly as possible, in order to remove infection before it has a chance to spread widely in badgers in the area. Therefore, surveillance during a cull is of greater use to determine the remaining population.

The Bern Secretariat have been informed of the Guidance to Natural England on requirements for badger control in the Low Risk Area of England. The cull area in Cumbria is 0.3% of the Low Risk Area and Natural England did not set a maximum number of badgers to be removed. The guidance to Natural England can be found on Gov.uk at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-natural-england-preventing-spread-of-bovine-tb