§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to the letter to the hon. Member for Linlithgow of 12 October CM/23437/00, what information as to the basis of his policy he has received from English Nature and their586W contacts with those in other countries, undertaking research into frog disease and mortality; and if he will make a statement. [136223]
§ Mr. MullinEnglish Nature, our statutory advisers, regularly review the work undertaken within the international scientific arena on issues that may affect native species, including amphibians, and will shortly be meeting with the Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force (a specialist group that co-ordinates and funds work on amphibian diseases) to discuss a contingency plan should significant pathogens be detected in British frog populations.