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 enhance monitoring of wildlife exposure to (a) rodenticides and (b) other toxic substances; and whether he plans to allocate additional resources to improve (i) reporting and (ii) response mechanisms in relation to wildlife affected by those substances.

The UK Government is investing in enhancing England's capability to monitor for and report on exposure to wildlife of: anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs); legacy contaminants such as metals; and persistent bio-accumulative and toxic chemicals. This has been partly achieved through funding of the “interim H4: Exposure and Adverse Effects of Chemicals on Wildlife in the Environment” indicator under the 25 Year Environment Plan, and Environment Improvement Plan.

From a terrestrial perspective, Natural England is a partner and co-funder of the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS), hosted at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Through collaboration with PBMS, Natural England has delivered an annual report on Red Kite exposure to SGARs. Through work with other partners, it has been developing and expanding its work to monitor exposure and adverse effects of chemicals in the terrestrial environment.

Defra also provides funding for England’s Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme which determines the underlying cause of death in wildlife where approved use, misuse or illegal use of pesticides or rodenticides is suspected; and the National Wildlife Crime Unit which helps prevent and detect wildlife crimes involving illegal use of such substances.

In each case, budgets for 2025-2026 and beyond have not yet been set.