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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 17 January 2023 to Question 117640 on Trapping, what recent discussions she has had with the devolved administrations on the potential merits of banning snares.

A date is being sought for a meeting with Lesley Griffiths, MS for Rural Affairs in the Welsh Government. I will be interested to discuss the Welsh Government’s plans to ban the use of snares in Wales. I also hope to engage with Mairi Gougeon MSP in the Scottish Government given her responsibilities cover animal welfare, wildlife management and wildlife crime. In the meantime, my officials are in regular contact with colleagues in the devolved administrations as this government continues to consider how snares are regulated as part of our continued drive to maintain the highest animal welfare standards in the world.