All-Party Parliamentary Group on Game and Wildlife Conservation

The first APPG was held in December 2010 when, in partnership with the CLA, we presented “Common-sense Conservation” at Westminster. The APPGs are valuable in that they are a forum that allows us regular direct access to politicians.

Held at Westminster about three times a year, MPs from all parties and members of the House of Lords are invited to meet us, often supported by other industry and media representatives, for discussions and presentations aimed at helping them navigate some topical and sometimes controversial rural subjects. Their opinion and influence in Parliament and into policy can therefore be driven by science. It is also an opportunity to deliver our latest research findings and inform them of current projects.

Our formal purpose is defined and agreed as:

“To provide a forum for discussion of science-based wildlife conservation policies in the countryside.”

The GWCT provides the secretariat for the group (to contact us please email appg@gwct.org.uk) and the officers of the APPG are elected on an annual basis.

Chair

• Rt Hon Sir Robert Goodwill MP

Vice Chairs & Officers

• The Rt Hon the Earl of Caithness
• The Baroness Young of Old Scone
• Rt Hon Philip Dunne MP

Next meeting

• TBC

Previous meetings (current parliament)

• AGM and discussion on soil carbon (March 2024)
• Bottom-up ambition or top-down designation - who will deliver wildlife recovery? (January 2024)
• Salmonid conservation – the need for marine and freshwater approaches (October 2023)
• Wildfire mitigation – why we must act NOW (June 2023)
• AGM and achieving biodiversity targets – saving our endangered species (March 2023)
• Turbo-charging food production and the environment (October 2022)
• AGM and discussion on food security (27 April 2022)
• The gain from releasing game? (25 January 2022)
• Hares and Snares – who cares? How the work of the GWCT supports conservation and animal welfare (29 June 2021)
• Inaugural meeting (26 January 2021)

Meetings in previous parliaments

• AGM and discussion on Towards Net Zero (October 2019)
• Licensing for species recovery (July 2019)
• A healthy soil – natural capital asset or public good? (April 2019)
• Wildfire: Mitigating the risk (February 2019)
• Creating a successful Environmental Land Management Scheme (and AGM) (September 2018)
• Balancing environmental payments and trade (March 2018)
• Making regulation effective: scientific evidence or the precautionary principle? (November 2017)
• The Agriculture Bill – profitable farming and the environment: a unique opportunity for both (July 2017)
• Balancing agricultural and environmental policy in the post-Brexit era (March 2017)
• Water Friendly Farming – interim results and perspectives from the project (November 2016)
• Predator control in conservation (September 2016)
• Are we listening to the scientific evidence? (April 2016)
• Biodiversity 2020: What are the tools we need to create success? (November 2015)
• An introduction to the work of the GWCT and the challenges to reaching our 2020 biodiversity targets (June 2015)
• Hen harriers: The facts, the plan, a solution? (October 2014)
• Farming, flooding and fishing: Can we resolve the conflicts by dredging? (July 2014)
• Pollinators vs intensive food production: Can we really have both? (March 2014)
• The intensification of conservation: Essential combination or contradiction in terms? (November 2013)
• Labour’s policy review on wildlife: What should be included? (July 2013)

This is not an official website of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either house or its committees. All-party parliamentary groups are informal groups of members of both houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in these webpages are those of the group.