Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to prevent the illegal killing of hen harriers.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The illegal killing of hen harriers is unacceptable. Bird of prey persecution is a national wildlife crime priority and there are strong penalties in place for offences committed against birds of prey, including hen harriers. Defra supports the work of a national Tactical Delivery Group which brings stakeholders together to tackle such criminality.
Defra is a principal funder of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), which helps prevent and detect wildlife crime and directly assists law enforcers in their investigations. Defra is providing £494,000 for NWCU this year. In 2024, the NWCU launched the Hen Harrier Task Force (HTF) – a partnership designed to help tackle the illegal persecution of hen harriers. Through the HTF, more efficient channels of communication, cooperation, and data sharing between partners such as Natural England, the RSPB, and the NWCU expedites the coordination of effective enforcement response. This also supports efforts to successfully prosecute criminals and deters other would-be offenders. The HTF represents a pivotal shift in combating wildlife crime; it is using innovative technology (such as tracking drones and specialised detection dogs) to overcome logistical challenges and enhance evidence collection in remote areas.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help preserve hen harrier numbers.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Hen harriers are monitored year-round by Natural England (NE) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. NE staff engage closely with land managers of hen harrier habitat, and in the breeding season support the licenced use of Diversionary Feeding which enables nesting hen harriers to provide sufficient food to their chicks, improving the survival of young harriers while reducing the pressure from hunting on gamebird stock.
Field-based monitoring is underpinned by fitting satellite ‘tags’ to some hen harriers. This provides invaluable insights into their movements and habitat use and flags when and where they might have died, enabling their recovery for postmortem analysis and an enforcement response where illegal persecution may have played a role in the harrier’s death.
Bird of prey persecution is a national wildlife crime priority. Defra supports the work of a Tactical Delivery Group which brings stakeholders together to tackle such criminality. Defra is also a principal funder of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU). In 2024, the NWCU launched the Hen Harrier Task Force – a partnership designed to help tackle illegal persecution of the species. It uses innovative technology such as drones and specialised detection dogs to enhance evidence collection in remote areas.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers require stab vests due to the danger of the prisoners in their charge.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The previous Lord Chancellor announced in June the mandatory use of Protective Body Armour (PBA – also known as stab vests), for staff in specialist units, which includes Close Supervision Centres, Separation Centres and Segregation Units in the Long-Term High Security Estate. Following this announcement, 750 vests have been ordered.
PBA is available for use when deemed necessary in prisons, including:
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to increase the range of wildlife crimes which have notifiable status.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
This Government recognises the importance of tackling wildlife crime, which is why, along with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Home Office directly funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) to help tackle these crimes.
The NWCU provides intelligence, analysis and investigative assistance to the police and other law enforcement agencies across the UK to support them in investigating wildlife crime. This includes supporting cases referred by Border Force to the National Crime Agency or to individual forces. The NWCU is also the UK policing focal point for EUROPOL and INTERPOL wildlife crime activity.
The NWCU uses this information to produce strategic and tactical assessments of wildlife crime across the UK. These assessments also take into consideration the views of the Wildlife Crime Conservation Advisory Group, which highlight priorities based on the conservation status of specific species and review all other non-priority intelligence to identify any emerging threats. It is these assessments which ultimately drive the operational response to tackling wildlife crime in the UK.
We will keep under review any legislative proposals to increase the range of wildlife crimes that have notifiable status. If a non-notifiable wildlife crime is reported to police it can still be investigated. Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions the National Tactical Response Group was deployed in the youth estate in each year since 2015, broken down by institution type.
Answered by Edward Argar
The information requested could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times the National Tactical Response Group were deployed to prisons in 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar
I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 19 February 2024 to Question 13524: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-02-07/13524.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times a (a) Tornado and (b) national tactical response team was deployed to HMP Lowdham Grange in the last 24 months.
Answered by Edward Argar
The National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) are a specialist resource that provide intervention options to the Silver and Gold commanders. NTRG is a highly trained team that provide expertise in technical interventions that would carry higher risk of failure or injury, and which require skills and equipment limited only to NTRG staff.
Operation Tornado is a national mutual aid plan by which prisons support one another in the event of a serious incident or occurrence requiring a reinforcement of staff. Operation Tornado is employed by HMPPS for three main reasons:
In the 24 months from January 2022 there were 3 Tornado activations.
In the 24 months from January 2022 there were 40 national tactical response team deployments.
The Ministry of Justice took over the running of HMP Lowdham Grange on 18 December 2023 for an interim period to improve safety and security at the prison.
The immediate steps to stabilise the prison include:
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times the National Tactical Response Group has been deployed in each year since 2018.
Answered by Edward Argar
The National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) are a specialist resource that provide intervention options to the Silver and Gold commanders. NTRG is a highly trained team that provide expertise in technical interventions that would carry higher risk of failure or injury, and which require skills and equipment limited only to NTRG staff.
The information requested can be found in the table(s) below.
Number of deployments of National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) by year since 2018 | |
Year | Number of deployments of NTRG |
2018 | 628 |
2019 | 719 |
2020 | 455 |
2021 | 384 |
2022 | 570 |
2023 | 794 |
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times Nico 9 stun grenades were used in each youth offender institution in each year since 2017.
Answered by Edward Argar
HMPPS uses Nico 9 Stun grenades as a distraction device during planned interventions as part of an agreed tactical plan. They can only be employed by National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) staff who are highly trained in their use.
The table below states how many times Nico 9 stun grenades were used in each Youth Offender Institution in each year since 2017.
Establishment | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
Cookham Wood | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Feltham | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Parc | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Werrington | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Wetherby | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times (a) the National Dog and Technical Support Group was deployed to Youth Offender Institutes and (b) those dogs were used in those deployments in each year since 2017.
Answered by Edward Argar
The National Dog and Technical Support Group (NDTSG) provides prison dogs for patrol and detection purposes and a wide range of technical support including the transmission of audio and visual information, and the capability to capture evidence of an incident.
The table below states how many times NDTSG was deployed to each Youth Offenders Institute and how many times those dogs were used in those deployments in each year since 2017.
Establishment | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |||||||
NDTSG deployments | Dog uses | NDTSG deployments | Dog uses | NDTSG deployments | Dog uses | NDTSG deployments | Dog uses | NDTSG deployments | Dog uses | NDTSG deployments | Dog uses | NDTSG deployments | Dog uses | |
Cookham Wood | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | - | 2 | - | 3 | - |
Feltham | 39 | 3 | 28 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 46 | - | 15 | - | 8 | - |
Parc | 37 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 23 | - | 30 | - | 15 | - |
Werrington | 13 | 2 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Wetherby | 13 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | - |
Total | 120 | 6 | 76 | 3 | 37 | 1 | 35 | 0 | 71 | 0 | 47 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
“–” indicates where dog uses are not recorded pre-2020.
NDTSG is deployed to support the National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) with a wide range of technical support including the transmission of audio and visual information, and the capability to capture evidence of an incident. As shown by the number of dog uses, the increased deployment of NDTSG is not necessarily indicative of an increase in the use of dogs. Equally, where dog uses have increased, this may be due to an increase in proactive searches and patrols at establishments, and is not necessarily indicative of responses to disorder.