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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of clay pigeon shooting on (a) business growth and (b) job creation in rural communities.

Rural areas offer significant potential for growth and are important to our economy, contributing over £315 billion a year to England alone.

Defra has not made a formal assessment on contribution of clay pigeon shooting to the rural economy; however, we know the rural economy is diverse with 86% of rural businesses unrelated to agriculture, forestry or fishing.

The government recognises the economic benefits that shooting sports such as clay pigeon shooting can bring to rural communities and that it can be an important part of a local economy which provides direct and indirect employment opportunities.