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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve the habitat for the grey partridge.

Habitat improvement is a devolved matter. In England, Agri-environment schemes such as Environmental Stewardship fund the provision of important habitats for farmland birds such as the grey partridge. In addition, grey partridge are among the farmland birds which will benefit from wild pollinator and farm wildlife package options under the new Countryside Stewardship scheme, for example by providing winter feeding, nesting sites and food for chicks.

Green woodpecker numbers are increasing in England and while they are not being specifically targeted for conservation action they will benefit from general habitat management.

The grey partridge and green woodpecker also benefit - as do other bird species - from England’s extensive network of protected sites for wildlife such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Special Protection Areas.