Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has plans to review the regulation of (a) hand-held catapults and (b) slingshots with a wrist-brace attachment.

I have asked Home Office officials to keep the law in this area under review. There are existing powers available for the police to tackle the misuse of catapults for anti-social behaviour or against people or property.

I understand that there is a particular concern about the misuse of catapults against wildlife. I have therefore written to Dan Zeichner MP, the relevant Minister in DEFRA, which has responsibility for the law protecting animals and birds to highlight this problem.