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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the reintroduction of (a) the white-tailed sea eagle and (b) other endangered raptor species in the East of England.

As a core part of our commitment to leave the environment in a better state than we found it, the Environment Act will set a new legally binding target to halt the decline of species abundance by 2030. We will shortly be publishing a Green Paper to look at how we can drive the delivery of that target, including through our sites and species protections.

The Government continues to support a wide range of successful and ongoing reintroductions and translocations for raptors such as hen harrier to southern England. To support the reintroduction of white-tailed eagle, in 2021 Natural England issued a licence for a ten-year project to release the species at a site in Norfolk. Defra also provided funding to support the Isle of Wight white-tailed eagle reintroduction project led by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, as well as the support provided through the involvement of Forestry England. The project aims to reintroduce up to 60 eagles to the Isle of Wight over a five-year period.

As a result of decades of conservation work including reintroductions and increased protections, many birds of prey such as the red kite, marsh harrier and white-tailed eagle have been helped off the UK Red List for birds. We will shortly be establishing an England Species Reintroductions Task Force to provide a collective evidence-based view on potential species for conservation translocation and reintroduction in England.