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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many prosecutions have been brought in relation to offences involving the persecution of birds of prey in each of the last five years.

Defra does not hold official data on the number of prosecutions that have been brought in relation to offences involving the persecution of birds of prey. The Ministry of Justice does publish data on prosecutions for a wide range of offences, including offences relating to birds under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, but this is not broken down to a level to identify prosecutions for offences specifically involving birds of prey.

Based on data published by the Ministry of Justice, in the last five years there have been 50 prosecutions for offences relating to birds under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Data relating to specific offences against wild birds under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 can be sourced using the Outcomes by Offences data tool on the Criminal Justice Statistics website: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.