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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help protect barn owls in Sussex, in the context of the decline in breeding numbers in 2025.

The decline of the barn owl is attributed to several factors including the loss of suitable habitat, which limits the availability of hunting grounds; the use of rodenticides; road traffic collision; and the loss of traditional nesting sites.

To address their decline nationally, agri-environmental schemes are supporting barn owls by the funding of habitat creation, such as rough grassland for hunting, and by supporting the provision of nest boxes in suitable locations.