Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many incidents of the use of catapults causing harm to wild mammals have been recorded in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government takes wildlife crime seriously. Defra supports the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), which helps prevent and detect wildlife crime by obtaining and disseminating intelligence, undertaking analysis which highlights local or national threats and directly assisting law enforcers in their investigations. Defra is providing £424,000 for NWCU in the financial year 2025-2026.
However, crimes against wildlife using catapults are not ‘notifiable’. This means police forces are not required to record and report figures on this type of crime to the Home Office for statistical and monitoring purposes. Defra therefore holds no official statistics on the number of incidents of the use of catapults causing harm to wild mammals from the last five years. Any decision to make such wildlife offences notifiable sits with the Home Office rather than Defra. Regardless of notifiable status, when it comes to responding to the most prevalent wildlife crimes, police force Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the legal (a) sale and (b) possession of catapults on animal welfare.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While it does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that must not be used to kill wildlife, it is still illegal to deliberately attempt to kill, injure, or harm protected species, whether by using a catapult or any other harm-causing device. There are a range of other offences found in further legislation to protect wildlife from cruelty such as the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996. Where pets and livestock are concerned, it is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to cause an animal any unnecessary suffering. The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 increased the sentences available for the most serious cases of animal cruelty by increasing the maximum penalty for this offence to 5 years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.
The Government takes crimes against animals seriously. While Defra is keeping the law in this area under review, existing powers are already available for the police to tackle the misuse of catapults and there are therefore no current plans for further assessment of the legal (a) sale and (b) possession of catapults.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to address the use of catapults in causing suffering to (a) pets and (b) wild mammals.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While it does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that must not be used to kill wildlife, it is still illegal to deliberately attempt to kill, injure, or harm protected species, whether by using a catapult or any other harm-causing device. There are a range of other offences found in further legislation to protect wildlife from cruelty such as the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996. Where pets and livestock are concerned, it is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to cause an animal any unnecessary suffering. The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 increased the sentences available for the most serious cases of animal cruelty by increasing the maximum penalty for this offence to 5 years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.
The Government takes crimes against animals seriously. While Defra is keeping the law in this area under review, existing powers are already available for the police to tackle the misuse of catapults and there are therefore no current plans for further assessment of the legal (a) sale and (b) possession of catapults.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has any plans to review the regulation of catapults in relation to animal welfare concerns.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While it does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that must not be used to kill wildlife, it is still illegal to deliberately attempt to kill, injure, or harm protected species, whether by using a catapult or any other harm-causing device. There are a range of other offences found in further legislation to protect wildlife from cruelty such as the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996. Where pets and livestock are concerned, it is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to cause an animal any unnecessary suffering. The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 increased the sentences available for the most serious cases of animal cruelty by increasing the maximum penalty for this offence to 5 years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.
The Government takes crimes against animals seriously. While Defra is keeping the law in this area under review, existing powers are already available for the police to tackle the misuse of catapults and there are therefore no current plans for further assessment of the legal (a) sale and (b) possession of catapults.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of legislation for (a) deterring and (b) prosecuting people who attack (i) wildlife and (ii) livestock with catapults; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to help tackle this.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While it does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that must not be used to kill wildlife, it is still illegal to deliberately attempt to kill, injure, or harm protected species. There are a range of other offences found in further legislation to protect wildlife from cruelty such as the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996. Where livestock is concerned, it is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to cause an animal any unnecessary suffering. The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 increased the sentences available for the most serious cases of animal cruelty by increasing the maximum penalty for this offence to 5 years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.
The Government takes crimes against animals seriously but there is already sufficient legislation in place which protects them from targeted use of catapults. Defra therefore has no current plans to take further steps to tackle the use of catapults and nor does the Home Office have plans to change the law to make a catapult a specified prohibited weapon.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) consult and (b) inform businesses importing fruit from non-EU countries of changes to (i) inspection regimes and (ii) risk categorisation; and what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, on ensuring that policy changes do not result in (A) unanticipated costs and (B) supply disruptions for importers.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Changes to plant health import controls are communicated in-line with relevant international obligations, including those under the WTO-SPS agreement and International Plant Protection Convention. This includes submitting a notification to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the UK Chief Plant Health Officer writing to their counterparts in other countries. Details are also published on the UK Plant Health Portal.
Consultation with stakeholders on proposed, and up-coming changes to import controls is primarily through the UK plant health advisory forum.
In line with the WTO-SPS agreement DEFRA ensures that any changes to import controls have a proportionate lead in time to allow trade and trading partners sufficient time to prepare.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the overnight holding of perishable fruit consignments at borders on affected businesses; and what steps his Department plans to take to help minimise delays for just-in-time supply chains in the fresh produce sector.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For Plants and Plant Products, APHA will aim to inspect consignments within four hours of them being presented for a physical inspection.
However, a small minority of fruit and vegetables are subject to 100% inspection due to the level of pest and disease risk and may be held in the event that the goods are not available for inspection.
The time taken to conduct checks is subject to a ‘Service Level Agreement’ (SLA), details of which are available on Gov.uk. Our teams have been working closely with traders to ensure checks are completed effectively and swiftly to avoid delays. We are confident BCP capacity, including staff resource, and opening times are sufficient for the current volume of checks. We continue to work with traders to ensure their documentation is accurately filled out before starting their journey and have published guidance to traders and drivers on the requirements of BCP inspections to help reduce waiting times.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that importers of fresh fruit from outside the UK receive timely advance notification of border inspections.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Businesses must notify the competent authorities in advance of a consignment arriving in GB when it contains High risk or Medium A risk plants and plant products as they are subject to phytosanitary controls. Upon completion of the notification an initial risk assessment is provided detailing whether an inspection is required. Drivers and notifiers are informed in one of two ways.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that the Environment Agency responds to requests from the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid Kent on battery safety at Cleve Hill Solar Park.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency works closely with the department at every level to ensure that the Environment Agency maintains high standards of delivery for stakeholders and the public, including when handling correspondence. Members of Parliament are encouraged to deal directly with the Environment Agency on day-to-day operational matters.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to monitor the responsiveness of the Environment Agency to enquiries from hon. Members.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency works closely with the department at every level to ensure that the Environment Agency maintains high standards of delivery for stakeholders and the public, including when handling correspondence.