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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 24 March 2022 to Question 141136 on Birds of Prey: Conservation, whether his Department has taken recent steps to work with the police to identify cases of white-tailed eagles that have been deliberately killed.

Enforcement of wildlife offences is an operational matter for the police and it is not for the Government to comment on individual police investigations. However, where any protected birds are killed illegally the full force of the law should apply to any proven perpetrators of the crime. We have significant sanctions for this type of wildlife crime in place which includes an unlimited fine and/or a six-month custodial sentence. Defra officials have been in regular contact with the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) with regard to two fatal poisonings of white-tailed eagles in the south of England. The NWCU monitors and gathers intelligence on wildlife crime and aids police forces in their investigations when required.

The Government takes all wildlife crime seriously. To address concerns about the illegal killing of birds of prey, senior government and enforcement officers have identified raptor persecution as a national wildlife crime priority. Defra continues to be fully involved with the police-led national Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group and Natural England continues to work closely with wildlife crime officers. This year, Defra has also more than doubled its funding of NWCU from £165,000 per year to over £1.2 million over the next three years to target wildlife crime priorities including raptor persecution.