Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of strengthening criminal penalties for illegally killing hen harriers.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Bird of prey persecution is a national wildlife crime priority. Where any wild bird of prey is killed illegally the full force of the law should apply to proven perpetrators of the crime. The Government recognises that some stakeholders are often disappointed with the sentences that are passed down for such criminal acts but significant sanctions are already available for judges to hand down to those convicted of illegally killing birds of prey. Anyone who commits an offence under existing legislation such as the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 could face up to a six-month custodial sentence and/or an unlimited fine. Sentencing of those convicted of wildlife crimes remains a matter for judges, and these decisions are rightly taken independently of Government.

Defra therefore has no current plans to strengthen the maximum penalties for illegally killing hen harriers.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 72603 on Universal Credit: Veterans, how many veterans in each district council in Hertfordshire (a) claim Universal Credit (UC), (b) are in receipt of the housing element of UC and (c) pay the housing element of UC to private landlords.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) started collecting data on the Armed Forces status of Universal Credit (UC) claimants in Great Britain (GB) in April 2021.

By May 2025 data was held on the armed forces status of approximately 81% of the GB UC caseload. Armed forces status is self-reported by claimants and is not verified by the Ministry of Defence or Office for Veterans’ Affairs. A claimant’s status can be recorded as “currently serving”, “served in the past”, “not served” or “prefer not to say”.

Data is not held on the total number of UC claimants who are currently serving in the Armed Forces or who have served in the past, but data is held on those who have identified themselves so far.

The housing element of Universal Credit is paid to the claimant household rather than individuals.

The following table shows (a) the number of claimants who have identified themselves as veterans in each district council in Hertfordshire, and the number of households containing at least one claimant who has identified themselves as a veteran in each district council in Hertfordshire that are (b) are in receipt of the housing element of UC and (c) have a tenure type of the Private Rented Sector.

*NB columns may not sum to totals due to rounding

1. Figures are for Great Britain. Data is not collected on the Armed Forces status of UC claimants in Northern Ireland.

2. Figures in the table have been rounded to the nearest ten in line with Department’s Official Statistics rounding policy: Background information note: DWP benefits statistical summary - GOV.UK.

3. Further information on the caseload definition used for the UC official statistics can be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

For the purposes of answering these questions:

• “Veterans” has been interpreted as referring to those who have declared having served in the past.
• “In Hertfordshire” has been interpreted as referring to those claimants residing in the Hertfordshire County Council area.
• The housing element of UC being paid to private landlords has been interpreted as referring to those claimants residing in the Private Rented Sector.