Badgers (Hansard, 6 November 2002)

§ Mr. Lidington
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on her reasons for issuing a licence for the removal and slaughter of badgers at Saltdean, East Sussex. [74909]
368W

§ Margaret Beckett
[holding answer 21 October 2002]: Defra received an application for a licence under Section 10 of the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, to prevent badgers causing serious damage to property.
We investigated the case extremely carefully, and considered the full range of options for addressing the problem. In addition to this, we sought to involve groups associated with animal welfare issues, even though the Act does not oblige us to do so.
The decision to grant a licence for the humane dispatch of the badgers was taken with great reluctance, only after it appeared that all other avenues had been exhausted and in the exceptional circumstances of this case. In dealing with any licence applications we always seek to avoid the need to harm badgers. This was an extreme case where no other option had been identified.
On October 14 trapping work was suspended to allow local interest groups and residents to have a further opportunity to come to a suitable arrangement.

§ Mr. Lidington
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the Four Area Badger Study carried out by the Republic of Ireland. [74865]

§ Margaret Beckett
The Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG) is monitoring the Four Area Badger Study. Members of the ISG, Defra officials and Defra's independent animal vaccine programme adviser visited some of the Four Area Badger Study sites during their visit to Ireland in 2001.

§ Mr. Lidington
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the East Offaly Badger Removal Project. [74866]

§ Margaret Beckett
The East Offaly badger removal project was assessed in the "Krebs" Report on Bovine Tuberculosis in Cattle and Badgers, published in 1997. Based on many of the recommendations in the Krebs report, the Government have put in place a wide-ranging research programme into cattle TB. The Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG), has advised on this research programme and in so doing considered previous badger removal operations including the East Offaly project.