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 6 July 2026 to Question 15097 on Badgers: Animal Welfare and Disease Control, if she will take steps to record official figures on the number of badger deaths resulting from baiting.

Wildlife crimes, including badger baiting, are not ‘notifiable’ crimes. This means police forces are not required to report figures on badger baiting to the Home Office and therefore there are no official statistics or identifiable trends relating to this crime. Any decision to make such offences notifiable sits with the Home Office rather than Defra. Regardless of notifiable status, badger persecution is a UK wildlife crime priority and Defra is providing £530,000 in this financial year for the National Wildlife Crime Unit which helps prevent and detect wildlife crimes such as the horrific act of badger baiting.