Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will (a) hold discussions with the Sentencing Council on the adequacy of sentencing guidelines for people who have been convicted of wildlife crimes and (b) make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the conviction rate for reported wildlife crime incidents.

Sentencing guidelines are developed by the independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales, in fulfilment of its statutory duty to do so, and the Council regularly assesses their effectiveness. It would not be appropriate for the Government to require the Council to develop or review particular guidelines.

The Government assesses and publishes the impact of its policies, including the impact on the Criminal Justice System, in a variety of ways including Impact Assessments.