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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of adding seals to Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

The GB Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (GBCBs) acting through the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) have carried out the latest quinquennial review of species afforded legal protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (WCA). JNCC submitted the resultant advice to the previous government.

We continue to consider the evidence for making legislative change to protect our endangered species. This includes consideration of the proposals submitted by the JNCC in their advice to amend the lists of species afforded protection by the WCA, to include the grey and harbour seal.