Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department had made of the (a) reasons for and (b) extent of the decline in the puffin population.

Dr Thérèse Coffey, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Environment: The latest population trends indicate a decline in the population of UK puffins. UK-scale accurate trends in the puffin breeding population will, however, not be known until a new census of the UK’s breeding seabird populations is completed. Work on the breeding seabird census 2015-2019 is underway.

Declines in puffin breeding populations are thought to be due to a combination of factors, including climate change related food shortages and unfavourable weather conditions during the breeding season.

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