Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2017 to Question 109460, on poaching, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the number of UK Armed Forces personnel engaged in training and mentoring rangers in areas where poaching takes place.

No assessment has yet been made on the potential merits of increasing the number of UK Armed Forces personnel engaged in training and mentoring rangers.

Further to my answer of 31 October 2017 to Question 109460, on poaching, Liwonde National Park in Malawi was selected for a pilot project to test our methodology. Once the Pilot has concluded, we will conduct an evaluation of our approach and, where appropriate, make recommendations for subsequent training and mentoring activity.