Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the (a) effects of and (b) factors underlying the decline in the size of the songbird population. [41500]

Richard Benyon MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State: We have not commissioned a specific study to assess the effects of songbird population declines. Ecosystems and their constituent species provide human societies with 'ecosystem services', such as the regulation of pollution, provision of clean water, food, recreation and general well-being. Species interactions within ecosystems are complex and so declines in songbird populations may affect the services delivered. The UK's National Ecosystem Assessment is an independent assessment of the ecosystem services we get from nature, how they have changed over the last 50 years and how the choices we make may affect them in the future. The assessment is due to report in spring 2011 and will inform the development of the Natural Environment White Paper.

The reasons for the long-term declines in songbirds vary from species to species but in farmland habitats are relatively well understood and relate largely to the intensification of agriculture, such as the loss of spring-sown crops, weedy stubbles and hedges and the increased use of pesticides and fertilizers. These changes have reduced the availability of nest sites and food resources such as insects and seeds.

Declines in other habitats are less well understood and we are funding ongoing research on woodland birds. Also through our conservation advisers, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, in partnership with bird conservation and research charities, we fund the majority of the monitoring that is summarised in the annual publication of the State of UK Birds which gives an overview of the recent patterns of change and the latest research to understand the underlying factors.