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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022 in preventing unlicenced use of glue traps.

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

No formal assessment of the effectiveness of the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022 in preventing unlicensed use of glue traps has been made.

The Act aims to improve animal welfare by reducing the use of glue traps in England. Since 2022, market-leading suppliers have been removing glue traps from sale and promoting more humane alternatives; and since 2024, professional pest controllers have only been able to use glue traps in exceptional circumstances under licence. Defra has confidence that the number of these devices deployed across England has been significantly reducing.