The number of badgers culled under licence for bovine TB control purposes is published annually on GOV. UK. In 2024, the published total was 17,150.

Data on the numbers culled under licence in 2025 will be published in due course.

Badgers removed through intensive culling in the High Risk Area and Edge Area are not routinely submitted for M. bovis testing. No badgers were tested in these areas in 2024. Although some badgers were tested in 2025, the results are not yet known, as the study has not yet been completed.

Subject to capacity, badgers removed through culling operations in the Low Risk Area are sent to APHA laboratories for M. bovis testing. Not every badger removed through Low Risk Area operations may be tested for M. bovis.

Table 1: Number of badgers removed and tested for M. bovis in the Low Risk Area.

The Government is currently considering the proposals set out in the recommended Bovine TB Control Strategy. As such, in the context of the recommendation to develop a framework to inform decisions about lethal badger control, no such assessment has yet been made on proportionality.

The Government does not hold a projected five-year breakdown of bovine TB control expenditure allocated between cattle-based and wildlife-based measures. Future funding decisions will be made through the normal Spending Review and departmental business planning processes.

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.

Badger persecution is a UK wildlife crime priority, and a police-led Tactical Delivery Group exists to tackle offences against badgers. Defra is providing £530,000 in the financial year 2026-2027 for the National Wildlife Crime Unit, which helps prevent and detect wildlife crime such as badger baiting. In England and Wales, the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 provide protection against killing or injuring badgers. Anyone who breaches this legislation could face up to a six-month custodial sentence and/or an unlimited fine.

The 2025 season marked the final year of culling in the High Risk and Edge Areas of England. Accordingly, all badger cull licences granted in the South West have now expired, and no further licences can be issued under that policy.

Defra does not hold official figures at national or regional level on the deaths of badgers resulting from badger baiting.

The number of badgers culled annually under licence for bovine TB disease control purposes is available at the following link. Numbers are reported by licence area, with each licence area assigned to the county in which it is predominantly located.

• https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb-controlling-the-risk-of-bovine-tb-from-badgers#monitoring-and-evaluation

Data on the numbers culled under licence in 2025 will be published in due course.

This Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy, published in December 2025, made a commitment to review and look to strengthen penalties for cruelty against wildlife, including the horrific offence of badger baiting, to ensure they are consistent with higher levels of sentencing available for offences against domestic animals under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The Secretary of State has made no specific assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of raising the maximum prison sentence for badger baiting under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.

In England and Wales, the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 make killing or injuring badgers a criminal offence. Anyone who breaches this legislation could face up to a six-month custodial sentence and/or an unlimited fine.

This Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy, published in December 2025, made a commitment to review and look to strengthen penalties for cruelty against wildlife, including badger baiting, so they are consistent with higher levels of sentencing available for offences against domestic animals under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Badger persecution is a UK wildlife crime priority, and a police-led Tactical Delivery Group exists to tackle offences against badgers.

Defra is providing £530,000 in the financial year 2026-2027 for the National Wildlife Crime Unit, which helps prevent and detect wildlife crime by obtaining and disseminating intelligence.

In England and Wales, the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 provide protection against certain methods of killing, injuring, or taking of badgers, or interference with their setts. Anyone who breaches this legislation could face up to a six-month custodial sentence and/or an unlimited fine.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency publish annual TB monitoring data for each badger control area licensed from 2013. The latest report, published in September 2025 is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-in-cattle-badger-control-areas-monitoring-data-up-to-2024.

There are currently no plans to issue further badger control licences. The government has committed to ending the badger cull by the end of this Parliament, and the 2025 culling season marked the final year of industry-led culling in England’s High Risk and Edge Areas.

Multiple published studies indicate that badger vaccination is safe and can reduce TB infection and transmission in badgers. Vaccination is now being deployed across a number of large areas, including through a newly contracted Badger Vaccination Field Force. This expanded programme will provide further opportunities to assess and add to the body of evidence about the impact of vaccination on reducing TB incidence in cattle, where important evidence gaps remain.

Several modelling studies published by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) predict that badger vaccination will significantly reduce TB in badger populations, reducing onward risks to cattle. Further modelling work is ongoing to investigate this further.

The co-design steering group, in its recently published recommended bovine TB strategy, concludes that with most of the High-Risk Area having received at least four years of culling, a transition to vaccination should be beneficial to TB control, particularly when targeted to areas where it can have the greatest impact.

Multiple published studies indicate that badger vaccination is safe and can reduce TB infection and transmission in badgers. Vaccination is now being deployed across a number of large areas, including through a newly contracted Badger Vaccination Field Force. This expanded programme will provide further opportunities to assess and add to the body of evidence about the impact of vaccination on reducing TB incidence in cattle, where important evidence gaps remain.

In March, following a successful procurement, the Government awarded a contract to establish a new badger vaccination field force. Vaccination is already being carried out by APHA field teams in several areas and through a community‑led programme in East Sussex, demonstrating that large‑scale vaccination is practical, including in areas previously subject to culling. Further work includes a new NFU‑led project now underway in Cornwall to test scalable, cost‑effective vaccination approaches.

The Government expects the outcome of the co‑designed bovine TB strategy to be presented later in the spring.

The first major badger population survey in a decade began in February 2025 to estimate badger abundance and population recovery. Surveying work will take place over the next two winters and a report will be published once that has concluded.

The changes to the Protection of Badgers Act (PoBA) effected by the Planning and Infrastructure Bill would permit licences for the purpose of preserving public health or safety or for reasons of overriding public interest, to kill or take badgers, or to interfere with a badger sett, within an area specified in the licence. This purpose is derived from the list of eligible purposes for an exemption under the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, with which any species mitigation licence must comply. It is also consistent with similar provisions for other protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.

Overriding public interest can be used to mean development and infrastructure activities but can accommodate other activities such as maintenance or repair work.

Licences that permit the killing of badgers are already available for other purposes, such as scientific or educational purposes, preventing the spread of disease, or preventing serious damage to land, crops, poultry or other form of property.

This provision will be subject to strict safeguards, as the Government is also legislating that any licence issued under the PoBA must meet the strict tests required by the Bern Convention: that there is no other satisfactory solution and that the grant of the licence is not detrimental to the survival of any population of badgers. Killing badgers would therefore remain exceptional, only permissible under strict conditions, and would not become routine for development purposes.

These amendments standardise licences for development purposes under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 with those for other species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations, 2017. This is intended to facilitate strategic-level Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs) as provided for in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

We are legislating that licences issued under the Act to derogate from the protection afforded to badgers will be subject to strict tests required by the Bern Convention, which set a high bar. For licences under the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF), against an EDP for badgers, an overall improvement in the conservation status of badgers will be required. Killing badgers would remain exceptional and only permissible under strict conditions, such as disease control, and would not become routine for development purposes.

A specific assessment of the potential impact on shooting badgers has not been undertaken as the impact of these provisions will depend on practical application by Natural England through EDPs or individual licences.

No assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the badger cull in reducing bovine tuberculosis transmission in Surrey Heath constituency given that badger culling has not taken place within the county of Surrey.

Work is progressing at pace on a comprehensive new bovine TB strategy, to drivedown bovine TB rates to save cattle and farmers’ livelihoods and end the badger cull by the end of this parliament.