Asked by: Markus Campbell-Savours (Labour - Penrith and Solway)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data her Department has received on incidents involving the use of catapults or slingshots against wildlife since January 2024; and whether those data identify (a) police force area, (b) species, (c) suspected offender age and (d) criminal justice outcome.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Wildlife crimes, including those involving the use of catapults/slingshots, are not notifiable to the UK Home Office so there are no official statistics or identifiable trends relating to these crimes.
Any decision to make wildlife offences notifiable would sit with the Home Office, not Defra.
Defra does, however, take crimes against wildlife seriously and is aware of the ongoing and horrific misuse of catapults against wild animals.
Defra is supportive of the multi-agency Operation Lakeshot, led by the League Against Cruel Sports, which aims to reduce the number of crimes against wildlife using catapults.
Asked by: Markus Campbell-Savours (Labour - Penrith and Solway)
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 potential impact of climate change and changes in upland grazing practices on the risk of wildfires in Cumbria; and what steps she is taking to increase prevention and resilience in high‑risk areas.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to setting stronger adaptation objectives to improve preparedness for climate impacts, supporting an ambitious fourth National Adaptation Programme in 2028. These objectives will be underpinned by evidence in the Climate Change Committee’s independent assessment of climate risk and the Well Adapted UK Report.
Wetter, healthy-functioning peatlands are more resilient to the impacts of wildfire. That is why, in September 2025, we amended the Heather and Grass etc Burning (England) Regulations 2021, restricting unnecessary burning on all upland deep peat without a licence, to enhance protection and improve the resilience of our moorlands.
Defra is encouraging landowners and land managers to adopt good quality wildfire management plans, use sustainable methods to manage habitat and restore their peatland.