The Environment Agency assesses the environmental risk through the assessment of environmental permits to protect habitats from air pollution, and compliance with regulations to protect land and water. Measures are checked through regular compliance inspections.

There are a number of different farming systems in use in England and farms of all sizes have a role to play in promoting sustainable agriculture. All farms, regardless of size and type of production system, must comply with comprehensive legislation aimed at protecting animal health and welfare. The Government remains firmly committed to improving animal welfare and wants to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. Ministers recently met with several representatives of various farming sectors to discuss the Animal Welfare Strategy. This outlines the Government’s plans to improve farm animal welfare including through transitioning away from intensive confinement systems such as cages or crates.

Ammonia from poultry farms contributes to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution concentrations across the country. The precise contribution is difficult to assess and will vary according to the prevailing weather conditions and other sources of PM2.5. Long term exposure to fine particulate matter is associated with a number of serious health conditions. Intensive poultry farms with a capacity of 40,000 poultry places or more require a permit under the Environmental Permitting Regulations, to control their emissions into the environment.

Where animal welfare is impacted by farming practices, this can lead to increased health risks to humans through either the food chain, direct animal contact or through environmental contamination. For gastrointestinal disease this can occur through increased shedding of human pathogens where animals are at heightened stress, such as Salmonella spp and Campylobacter spp. Increased shedding of bacteria can also increase the risk antimicrobial resistance can spread.

Any individual exposed to positive detections of HPAI in poultry will be managed according to UKHSA’s public health guidance. Guidance for the management of people exposed to birds or other animals infected with influenza A(H5) - GOV.UK (copy attached).

As set out in the Animal Welfare Strategy, this Government would like to see an end to the practice of culling male chicks. The Government is monitoring the rapid progress currently being made with in-ovo sexing and has funded research into the use of dual breed chickens that remove the need to kill male chicks.

A commercial in-ovo sexing system was trialed at a UK hatchery last year to help the egg industry understand the logistics of in-ovo sexing. This Government will engage with the egg industry and technology companies on this issue.

The Government recognises the benefits of day-zero sexing technology and will engage with technology companies and the egg industry to fully understand the merits of all systems and when they may become commercially available.

As set out in the Animal Welfare Strategy for England (see attached), this Government is committed to encouraging industry to end the practice of male chick culling. While there are no current plans to provide direct financial support for the introduction of egg sexing technologies, Defra has funded research into dual breed chicken use which removes the need to kill male chicks.

A 2024 Natural England risk review [see attached] concluded that there is a very high likelihood that captive-reared mallards will be exposed to highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 after release. Once exposed, there is a very high likelihood of widespread morbidity and mortality in wild birds. The review concludes that captive-reared juvenile mallards have potential to act as both a reservoir and amplifier of H5N1 and to play a major role in H5N1’s continued persistence and dissemination.

The release of captive-reared mallards is already prohibited in Protection Zones, Surveillance Zone and Captive Bird Monitoring Controlled Zones. Releases are also prohibited in Avian Influenza Prevention Zones with housing measures.

Defra is not aware that a habitats regulations assessment (HRA) has been carried out for the release of Mallards (for shooting) on Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) in England.

This Government is considering the available evidence on the impacts of gamebird and mallard release and shooting in England, including Natural England’s report The risks from H5N1 to wild birds from captive-reared mallard, published on 24 June 2024. This Government will also engage with the sector and other stakeholder groups as this work progresses. This work is helping to inform consideration of whether further measures, including licensing, may be needed in relation to the release of captive-reared birds.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) can identify the number of gamebird locations recorded on the poultry register within Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas and within 500 metres of their boundaries. However, this Government does not hold details of those releasing gamebirds under licence in a form that allows the percentage requested to be calculated.

This Government shares the public’s high regard for the UK’s environmental protections, food standards and animal welfare.

Imports into the UK must comply with UK’s existing import requirements. Products produced to different environmental and animal welfare standards can be placed on the UK market if they comply with these requirements. This has always been the case and includes products from the EU and other longstanding trading partners.

This Government will always consider whether overseas produce has an unfair advantage and any impact that may have. Where necessary, this Government will be prepared to use the full range of powers at its disposal to protect the UK’s most sensitive sectors.

The Animal Welfare Strategy (see attached) states that ending the use of cages is a key priority for this Government. A UK-wide consultation on laying hen cage reform was launched on 12 January 2026 and closed on 9 March 2026. This consultation sought views on a proposed ban on keeping laying hens, pullets and breeder layers in cages. This Government is now analysing the consultation responses and will publish a formal response in due course.

The Government is open to considering all lawful means of achieving its ambition that half of all food purchased across the public sector should be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards.

The Government wants British farmers and producers to be well‑placed to bid for a fair share of the £5 billion spent each year on public sector food and catering contracts.

The Government has already published a new national procurement policy statement.

It sets expectations for Government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards that we think high-quality British producers are well-placed to meet.

Given the limited information on the origin and sustainability of food in the public sector supply chain, Defra has begun collecting new data to understand how far public sector settings are serving food, including chicken, from local and sustainable sources and what further action is needed.

The Government has recently launched a consultation on amending Schedule 2.1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Though the thrust of the consultation is proposing to remove certain species from Schedule 2.1, or to extend the close seasons of others, the consultation proposes adding woodpigeon to Schedule 2.1 as it applies in England, Scotland and Wales. The consultation asks consultees if any other species should be added to Schedule 2.1 in England, Scotland or Wales, and for evidence or reasoning to support any such suggestions. If suggestions for brent goose being added to Schedule 2.1 are supported with compelling evidence or reasoning, the UK government will consider such a measure for England.

Natural England (NE) provided an evidence dossier for the goldeneye as part of a recent government consultation which proposes removing this species from Schedule 2.1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in England. NE recommended that the Government should remove goldeneye from Schedule 2.1 to reduce the potential impact of hunting on the breeding and non-breeding populations, based on the precautionary principle, until more accurate data is available to show that recreational shooting can be managed on a sustainable basis. UK Government Ministers agreed with this assessment.

The Government has not made an assessment of the impact of shooting pressure on the European white-fronted goose in England and Wales on the overall population of the European white-fronted goose in Europe. Natural England provided an evidence dossier for the European white-fronted goose as part of a recent government consultation which proposes removing this species from Schedule 2.1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It states that the European white-fronted goose shooting take in England and Wales numbers less than 100 each year, based on research estimates.

The dossier also notes that numbers in Europe ‘appear to be stable’. Latest estimates suggest that the European population of European white-fronted goose totals 1–1.4 million individuals, whereas the British population totals 1,500 individuals. This offers some context to the relatively small proportion of the European population at risk of shooting pressure in England.

Natural England (NE) provided an evidence dossier for the European white-fronted goose as part of a recent government consultation. While the dossier notes Grindon Lough as a site where Greenland white-fronted geese overwinter, Grindon Lough is not an SSSI and neither NE nor the Government holds information on how many European white-fronted geese have been shot at this location in the open season in the last ten years.

Natural England provided an evidence dossier for the European white-fronted goose as part of a recent Government consultation which proposes removing this species from Schedule 2.1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in England. The dossier concludes that such a removal would act as an additional safeguard for protecting (from accidental shooting) individuals of the population of globally endangered Greenland white-fronted goose occurring in England. UK Government Ministers agreed with this assessment.

The Government does not hold information on how many Greenland white-fronted geese have been shot accidentally in England in the open season for European white-fronted geese in the last ten years. The published Conservation Brief for the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Greenland White-fronted Goose makes clear that “accidental take remains a risk in England where European whitefronts remain a quarry species.”