Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what funds his Department allocated to tackling the illegal wildlife trade in each financial year since 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Prior to 2013, work to tackle the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) was handled by individual geographical teams working with Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) posts across the world. Therefore, an aggregate figure for funds allocated to this matter during this time is not available. In 2013, a dedicated IWT team was established. £113,000 was allocated in financial year 2013-14 towards the costs of the London Conference on IWT held in February 2014. Funds were also contributed towards the conference by other government departments. No specific stand-alone project funds have been allocated by the FCO in financial year 2014-15, on top of staff costs.