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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many great crested newt licences have been (a) applied for and (b) granted in each year since 2007.

Information on great crested newt mitigation licences prior to 2008 is not readily available. Licence applications received in one calendar year for work to be carried out the next year may not have been processed until early the following year.

The figures for new licences are:

The following applications to modify an existing licence were also made: