Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were found guilty of offences under the (a) Protection of Badgers Act 1992, (b) Deer Act 1991, (c) Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 and (d) Hunting Act 2004 in 2017; and if he will make a statement.

The number of people prosecuted and convicted for offences under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, Deer Act 1991, Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 and Hunting Act 2004 in 2017 can be found in published ‘Experimental statistics: Principal offence proceedings and outcomes by Home Office offence code data tool’ available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/738814/HO-Code-Tool-2017.xlsx

The specific offences to search for are:

• ‘Summary offences under the Deer Act 1991 – e.g. taking, injuring or killing deer’ (offence code: 12111)
• ‘Offences under the Hunting Act 2004’
• ‘Hunting a wild mammal with a dog’ (offence code: 12113)
• ‘Knowingly permitting land to be entered or used in the course of hunting a wild mammal with dogs’ (12114)
• ‘Knowingly permitting a dog to be used in the course of hunting a wild mammal’ (12115)
• ‘Participating in a hare coursing event’ (12116)
• ‘Attending a hare coursing event’ (12117)
• ‘Knowingly facilitating a hare coursing event’ (12118)
• ‘Permitting land to be used for the purpose of a hare coursing event’ (12119),
• ‘Entering a dog for a hare coursing event’, ‘Permitting a dog to be entered for a hare coursing event’, ‘Controlling or handling a dog at a hare coursing event’ (all 12120)

• ‘Offences under Protection of Badgers Act 1992’ – ‘offences of cruelty to badgers and special protection for badgers and their setts’ (offence code: 10822)[1]
• ‘Offences under Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996’ – ‘cruelty to a wild mammal’ (offence code: 10825)

Where there are no codes available for the year 2017 (or other years), this means that there have been no prosecutions or convictions under that offence code in that year.

[1] Offences under both the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and Protection of Badgers Act 1992 should not be included as it is not possible to identify whether all of the individual offences within this offence group are related to badgers.