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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to support the reintroduction of (a) species, (b) elk, (c) water voles, (d) eels and (e) pine martens in river catchments.

The Government supports species reintroductions, where there are clear benefits for nature, people and the environment. Taking each species in turn:

A) We are not aware of any active proposals for the reintroduction of elk.

B) The conservation and recovery of water voles has been supported by a range of projects. The Environment Agency has carried out 279 projects over the last three years, including habitat works, reintroduction or translocation, research and monitoring. Forestry England has also reintroduced water voles to Kielder forest with Northumberland Wildlife Trust and have further plans to reintroduce water voles into Wild Ennerdale in the Lake District. In addition, Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme has invested in three reintroduction projects of captive bred water voles.

C) Defra has no current plans to support restocking of eels.

D) Forestry England works closely with both active and potential pine marten reintroduction projects across the country and are also partners on the Two Moors Pine Marten Project, and the South Cumbria Pine Marten Recovery Project, both of which released animals last autumn.