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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of trends in biodiversity and habitat degradation in the habitat of the natterjack toad in the last five years.

The Government reports on the implementation of the EU Habitats Directive, including the conservation status of a number of key habitats and European Protected Species, of which natterjack toad is one. The latest report was published in 2013 and assessed a number of important factors including range, population trends, habitat and pressures on the species.

In summary, this highlighted that natterjack toad distribution in England is well understood and that long term trends show that sites where they can be found, in England, have improved in habitat quantity and quality due to conservation interventions, particularly management funded by Wildlife Enhancement Schemes and Stewardship Schemes.

The full report can be found at the following link:

http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/Article17Consult_20131010/S1202_ENGLAND.pdf