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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of problems caused by illegal hare coursing.

The Government is aware of the issue of illegal hare coursing and the considerable concern it can cause to rural communities. We recognise that local police forces are taking steps to address hare coursing and associated crimes and that this is an operational matter for the police. The role of locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners is to hold their forces to account, including on how they tackle the crimes that matter most to residents and businesses. The National Wildlife Crime Unit includes hare coursing as one of its priorities. In addition, the six police forces across the East of England have come together and are deploying Operation Galileo to tackle hare coursing.