Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the impact of zoos on support for conservation science.

Zoos are required to carry out conservation work as part of their licensing conditions, and we are in the process of updating these. Defra has recently held a targeted consultation on a set of new Standards of Modern Zoo Practice for Great Britain. The draft standards propose a set of new conservation requirements that, subject to the approval by parliament of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, zoos licensed under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 will be required to meet. The new conservation requirements are designed to ensure that all licensed zoos in Great Britain provide meaningful contributions to conservation. Defra and the Zoos Expert Committee are currently considering responses to the consultation, which closed on 21^st June.