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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of hunting trophies entering the UK in 2019.

In 2019, the UK recorded 63 imports of hunting trophies from species listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The UK recorded 33 imports in 2018, 69 in 2017, and 143 in 2016. Defra has not made an assessment of the reasons for this increase in 2019 but imports fluctuate year-on-year for many reasons including fluctuations in the number of animals hunted, and how hunting trophies are recorded and counted on permits.