I have only had such discussions and in my previous post as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. I have no current plans in this regard.The departmental lead on this subject lies with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Officials from DEFRA and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) are in daily contact regarding whaling and work in tandem to lobby governments and to publicise the need for whale conservation.Since the last International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting the FCO has lobbied the governments of seven countries to join the IWC, two of which have expressed the intention of joining and voting with the UK.The UK led the international condemnation of Iceland’s decision to resume commercial whaling. On 1 November 2006, our Ambassador in Reykjavik led a multinational demarche of 25 countries plus the European Commission, making clear the extreme disappointment felt by those parties at Iceland’s decision and urging Iceland to abandon its current operations.On 31 January 2007 DEFRA and the FCO launched the brochure ““Protecting Whales: A Global Responsibility””. This brochure is being sent to various ‘target’ countries with a letter jointly signed by myself and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.The FCO has begun the annual round of bilateral lobbying in the run-up to the IWC meeting in Anchorage this May.