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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the poaching of game birds.

Poaching is one of the UK’s six wildlife crime priorities, which are set by the UK Wildlife Crime Tasking and Co-ordination Group, supported by the Wildlife Crime Conservation Advisory Group (WCCAG), chaired by JNCC. The National Wildlife Crime Unit, funded partly by Defra and the Home Office, assists regional police forces in tackling these crimes by gathering and analysing intelligence, sharing this with the police and assisting police investigations.

The main statutes governing poaching are the Game Act 1831, the Poaching Prevention Act 1862 and the Night Poaching Acts 1828 and 1844. The police are the law enforcement authority for poaching offences. The Government is committed to ensuring that the protection this legislation offers wildlife is effectively enforced and there are strong penalties for offenders, including imprisonment.