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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Foreign Office on (a) the experience of creating marine protected areas around British Overseas Territories and (b) lessons that could be used in creating UK national marine parks.

My Department has regular contact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office concerning the establishment of marine protected areas under the United Kingdom’s Overseas Territories Blue Belt Programme, including the interaction with the Marine Conservation Zones around the UK itself.