Rodents

House of Lords written question – answered at on 8 January 2013.

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Photo of Lord Laird Lord Laird UUP

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the rat population in (1) England, (2) Wales, (3) Greater London, and (4) Northern Ireland, in each of the past 15 years for which information is available.

Photo of Lord de Mauley Lord de Mauley The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Defra has made no estimate of the size of the rat population in England, Wales, Greater London or Northern Ireland in any of the last 15 years.

Defra has published data on rodent presence in domestic dwellings. The most recent information published by Defra is a report in May 2010 of the interim analysis of rodent presence in domestic properties from data for 2005, 2006 and 2007. This reported that there was no significant increase in rat presence inside dwellings between 1996 and 2007. The presence of rats outside dwellings increased between 1996 and 2001 but between 2001 and 2007, although the presence of rats outside dwellings fluctuated, there were no statistically significant increases or decreases.

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