asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by the Minister for Farming and the Environment, Jane Kennedy, on 21 October (Official Report, House of Commons, col. 154W), which bodies carried out the badger population survey in the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s; and whether a further population survey is to be carried out before 2010; and [HL6052]

Further to the Written Answer by the Minister for Farming and the Environment, Jane Kennedy, on 21 October (Official Report, House of Commons, col. 154W), whether there is an official estimate of the size of the badger population; if so, which organisation carried it out; on what basis it was done; and what the estimate is. [HL6053]

The survey in the mid-1980s (published in 1990) was carried out by the Nature Conservancy Council. The survey in the mid-1990s (published in 1997) was carried out by the People's Trust for Endangered Species.

My department's estimate is based on these surveys which put the badger population in Great Britain at around 250,000 to 350,000, though there are considerable uncertainties attached to this estimate.

Neither Defra nor Natural England is planning any surveys of the badger population in England before 2010.