Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Kerry McCarthy (Labour) on Wednesday, 18 January 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 January 2012. It was answered by Crispin Blunt (Conservative) on Tuesday, 24 January 2012 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Hunting: Prosecutions

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were (a) cautioned, (b) proceeded against and (c) convicted of an offence under the provisions of the (i) Game Act 1831, (ii) Deer Act 1991, (iii) Protection of Badgers Act 1992, (iv) Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, (v) Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996, (vi) Animal Welfare Act 2006, (vii) Conservation (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1994 and Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010, (viii) Hunting Act 2004 and (ix) Night Poaching Act 1828 in each year from 2005 to 2010.
Answer

The number of persons cautioned, and defendants proceeded against at magistrates court and found guilty at all courts for the requested offences in England and Wales from 2005 to 2010 can be viewed in the following tables.The Ministry of Justice has not received any reports of cautions, prosecutions or convictions under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations Act 2010.

Persons¹ cautioned, and defendants¹ proceeded against and found guilty of offences under selected legislation, England and Wales, 2005-10²
Defendants
2005 2006 2007
Legislation Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty
Animal Welfare Act 20064 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2 36 34
Deer Act 1991 3 4 3 0 1 0 0 3 1
Game Act 18315 6 421 341 17 57 35 9 81 60
Hunting Act 2004 1 2 2 0 11 5 8 62 48
Night Poaching Act 18285 2 36 29 2 19 14 10 21 16
Protection of Badgers Act 1992 0 39 20 0 22 7 8 30 11
Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 1 3 1 4 7 4 3 7 3
Wildlife and Countryside Act 19815 18 62 44 14 150 109 19 49 38
Defendants
2008³ 2009 2010
Legislation Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty
Animal Welfare Act 20064 7 1,026 784 17 1,414 1,073 15 1,413 1,081
Deer Act 1991 0 4 1 4 3 2 0 10 5
Game Act 18315 17 125 110 5 163 128 15 178 135
Hunting Act 2004 4 44 33 8 92 59 11 49 36
Night Poaching Act 18285 9 25 16 17 44 32 25 48 37
Protection of Badgers Act 1992 2 37 22 2 50 30 6 50 30
Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 0 6 5 2 8 5 2 6 4
Wildlife and Countryside Act 19815 12 41 33 15 48 33 13 41 22
n/a = Not applicable.
¹ The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
² Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
³ Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008.
4 The Animal Welfare Act 2006 came into effect on 8 November 2006
5 Excludes offences that form part of a miscellaneous group that cannot be separately analysed.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
539 c219-22W; 91307
Session
2010-12
Transferred
Yes
Subjects
Hunting Prosecutions
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk