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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many wildlife licence applications Natural England has completed within the 30-day time frame in each of the last five years.

For the last five years, the percentage of licence applications Natural England has dealt with within 30 days, or to a different deadline agreed with the applicant, are as follows:

2014/15: 55.80% of 11,520 applications dealt with on time

2015/16: 70.74% of 13,765 applications dealt with on time

2016/17: 88.13% of 15,122 applications dealt with on time

2017/18: 86.33% of 15,213 applications dealt with on time

2018/19 (to 11 March 2019): 88.38% of 15,025 applications dealt with on time