Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of using UK Official Development Assistance to help protect endangered species.

Ministers from my department, the FCO and Defra have met to plan the Government’s response to tackling the illegal wildlife trade. DFID is now providing funding to the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, the Global Wildlife Programme and a range of forestry programmes to protect endangered species.