PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(6 July 2026)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Bovine TB Control Strategy for England, published on 10 June 2026, what criteria her Department will use to determine whether wildlife control methods are humane; whether that standard will draw on the findings of the 2014 Independent Expert Panel on the humaneness of controlled shooting of badgers; and what independent body will monitor and publicly report on the humaneness of any future lethal control, including Test, Vaccinate and Remove.

Asked by:
Rachael Maskell (Labour)

The badger cull is ending, and no new licences can be issued under that policy, as this Government instead keeps the focus on cattle while also protecting wildlife.

The Government is currently considering the proposals set out in the recommended Bovine TB Control Strategy. As such, no decisions have yet been taken on such criteria or future arrangements for independent monitoring and reporting.

With respect to lethal control, the Strategy recommends developing a framework to inform decisions about lethal badger control, based on international consensus principles for ethical wildlife control.

Answered by:
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