Red Squirrels (Hansard, 27 May 2004)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)
My Lords, the red squirrel is protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which prohibits any unauthorised killing, injuring, taking, possession, sale or disturbance in a place of shelter or protection.
Under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan an individual species action plan has been prepared for the red squirrel. The Red Squirrel Group, a partnership of public, private and voluntary organisations led by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, is responsible for delivery of the red squirrel action plan.

§ Earl Peel
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. Does he not agree that unless urgent action is taken, there is a real possibility that the red squirrel will become extinct in the United Kingdom? With regard to that, will he make a government commitment on two fronts? First, will he make a commitment that there will be proper research to try to eliminate the parapox virus, which is affecting the red squirrel so badly; and secondly—and perhaps more importantly—that there will be properly funded, government-led, co-ordinated efforts between the private sector and the public sector drastically to reduce the number of grey squirrels—the alien species—which is the principal reason for the demise of the red population in the United Kingdom?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, as the House is well aware, the decline of the red squirrel population has been going on for decades and the areas in which they still exist are relatively few. Therefore, it is very important that we focus action to protect those areas, both to make sure that the habitat is appropriate for red squirrels and to minimise any danger of incursion by grey squirrels. The intention of the action plan is to focus exactly on those areas and there is positive action involving public authorities in partnership with private landowners, the Forestry Commission and others in those areas. Regarding the research into the disease, that is also continuing but we are not yet at a point where we can resolve all the questions in relation to that threat.

§ Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, am I right in thinking that it is important that people plant trees that are agreeable for red squirrels to use for food?

§ Lord Whitty
Yes, my Lords. In the areas where a red squirrel population still exists it is important that new tree plantations and the overall management of 1440 trees not only support a continuing population of red squirrels but, as far as is possible, that we use a mix of trees that is least amicable to the grey squirrel.

§ Lord Livsey of Talgarth
My Lords, will the Minister confirm that grey squirrels are some of the most destructive pests in the country? Not only do they drive out red squirrels, but they destroy trees, rob birds' nests and there was, indeed, one case of rabies as a result of one biting a human. Will the Minister confirm that there will be areas designated where grey squirrels can be cleared out so that red squirrels can flourish? Will he consider setting up a fund to save red squirrels, based on the presentation of a "pound for pound" scheme—so to speak—for every grey squirrel tail presented?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, regarding the last point, we tried that in the 1950s and in fact the grey squirrel population went up quite dramatically, so it was not effective. Clearly, we need plans for those relatively few areas where red squirrels are present. That is the burden of the current activity. Grey squirrels are frequently a pest; they are not a protected species and people can destroy them, but the main focus must be protecting those few remaining areas where there are significant red squirrel populations.

Lord Clark of Windermere
My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of the Forestry Commission. Perhaps I may say how enthusiastic we are as an organisation to be in the vanguard fighting for the preservation of red squirrels. Can the Minister confirm that 80 per cent of the red squirrels in England are in the Kielder Forest in Northumberland and that most of the rest are in Cumbria? Will he pay particular attention to the preservation of Cumbrian red squirrels, given that there are many scientists who believe that those squirrels are the only indigenous English red squirrels extant?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, I join the noble Lord in applauding the activity of the Forestry Commission in this respect—in partnership with many others. He is right that the Kielder Forest and Cumbrian red squirrels are by far the largest populations and therefore those on which much of the activity has to concentrate.

§ Baroness Byford
My Lords, will the Minister confirm that Britain was a signatory in 1994 to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which commits signatories, as far as is possible and as appropriate", to, control or eradicate those alien species which threaten ecosystems, habitats or species"? Why have the Government not acted on that initiative?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, we are signatories to that convention and where there are problems of invasive species, whether plants or animals that destroy the habitat further and threaten to eliminate species, then we will take action. There is no such protection for the grey squirrel. We have a situation where grey squirrels have been here for over 100 years and dominate many 1441 areas of our landscape—so we are not exactly dealing with a new invasion. We are dealing with a situation where we have to protect the last redoubts of the red squirrel and that is where all our activities are focused.