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 list the applicants for the current round of Darwin Extra funding which are also represented on the Darwin expert panel.

Defra publishes the names of Darwin Expert Committee members and organisations they are associated on the Darwin Initiative website. Successful Darwin Initiative grant applications are also detailed on the same website. Defra does not reveal the identities of unsuccessful applicants as it considers this information to be sensitive. The current round of bidding for Darwin Extra grants is ongoing. Defra will publish details of successful applications when the process is complete.

The Darwin Initiative prevents Conflicts of Interest from influencing funding decisions by requiring its Expert Committee members to declare interests and recuse themselves from the assessment and discussion of any application in which they have an interest. This is monitored by Defra and in line with the Nolan Committee’s Seven Principles of Public Life.