diff --git a/spynnaker/pyNN/utilities/neo_buffer_database.py b/spynnaker/pyNN/utilities/neo_buffer_database.py
index 19a43fcf4b..4efb9f89b1 100644
--- a/spynnaker/pyNN/utilities/neo_buffer_database.py
+++ b/spynnaker/pyNN/utilities/neo_buffer_database.py
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ def has_population_metadata(self, pop_label: str) -> bool:
                 Typically the Population label, corrected for `None` or
                 duplicate values
         """
-        for row in self.cursor().execute(
+        for _ in self.cursor().execute(
                 """
                 SELECT pop_size
                 FROM population