§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) pursuant to his answer of 22 March,Official Report, columns 226–27, what means are employed for checking for previous convictions from applicants; [21877]
(2) how many potential offences his Department identified and pursued as a result of monitoring national trade journals prior to November 1994, relating to the sale of birds listed in appendix I of CITES and annexe CI of EC regulation 3626–82; [21870]
(3) what factors led to nine of the 26 potential sales offences being passed to the police; [21871]
(4) how many specimens of Livingstone's Turaco were advertised for sale during the period that his Department has been monitoring the trade journals; [21872]
(5) how many times information has been followed up by the Department's wildlife inspectorate, when doubt concerning an application has been raised; [21875]
(6) how many times premises have been inspected to ensure that any conditions attached to sales exemptions have been met; [21876]
(7) when the first police officer was designated as an authorised person under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulation 1985. [21883]
§ Sir Paul Beresford[holding answer 2 March 1995]: It would not be in the interests of bird conservation to publish the detailed information sought by the hon. Member about potential wildlife offences dealt with by my Department. Such information could be of use to those evading or intending to evade the controls. I will write to the hon. Member.
§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 22 March,Official Report, column 226, when his Department intends to register the bird species listed in CITES appendix I and annexe CI of EC regulation 3626/82, that are not currently required to be registered and ringed if kept in captivity. [21873]
§ Sir Paul Beresford[holding answer 2 May 1995]: Following our review of the secondary controls on 211W wildlife, we have invited our scientific advisers, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, to advise on the criteria for listing the species which must be ringed and registered with the Department, by the middle of next year.
The agreed criteria will be used to carry out the first review of schedule 4 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The results should be submitted to my Department by December 1997. We shall consider, in the light of this, whether any additions or deletions to the species listed in schedule 4 are necessary.
§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 22 March,Official Report, column 226, what proposals he has to ensure that individual birds of significant conservation concern advertised for sale can he uniquely identified. [21874]
§ Sir Paul Beresford[holding answer 2 May 1995]: We shall continue to ensure that sales exemptions are issued only when we are satisfied that there are no significant risks to the conservation of the species concerned. The enforcement working group, which I announced on 20 December in my reply to the hon. Member for Taunton (Mr. Nicholson), Official Report, columns 1115–16, will be looking at the current arrangements for the marking of specimens, and considering whether any changes are required.