Written question asked by Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative) on Monday, 17 October 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 19 October 2011. It was answered by Lord Benyon (Conservative) on Wednesday, 26 October 2011 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Squirrels: Pest Control

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate her Department has made of the annual cost to the public purse of grey squirrel control.

Answer: The Forestry Commission in England spent approximately £102,000 during 2008-09, £127,000 during 2009-10 and £121,000 during 2010-11 on activities associated with the control of grey squirrel populations on the public forest estate.Also, a proportion of funding from the England Woodland Grant Scheme is spent on grey squirrel control, but this is not recorded separately from other grant aided woodland management activities under the scheme.There is no central record of costs incurred by other public bodies such as local authorities or individual landowners which may include domestic and urban park squirrel control activity.

Secondary information