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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to consolidate wildlife legislation into a single statute that would provide equal protections to different forms of wildlife.

Defra recognises the view of many stakeholders that the complexity and disparate nature of wildlife legislation is a factor in the challenges experienced in successfully prosecuting wildlife offences. The overriding recommendation of the 2015 Law Commission report into wildlife legislation was that wildlife laws in this country need to be consolidated. While we have no immediate plans, we support the Commission’s call for consolidation. We will pursue opportunities to streamline legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows, to achieve more consistency and clarity.