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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the health of (a) reptile and (b) amphibian populations in the UK.

Natural England recently worked with the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation charity to undertake an assessment of the extinction risk of all native amphibians and reptiles in Great Britain. The report was published in August 2021 and found that of the 13 species assessed, 7 were classified as ‘Least Concern’, meaning no imminent risk of extinction from Great Britain. The common toad and adder were classified as ‘Near Threatened’, the smooth snake, natterjack toad and sand lizard as ‘Endangered’ and the northern pool frog as ‘Critically Endangered’.