Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether all government vessels are checked by rodent detection dogs before visiting locations where rodents have been eradicated in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

The Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands operates a wide range of peer-reviewed rodent detection and mitigation measures which seek to prevent rodents from entering the Territory. It works closely with those organisations with a footprint on South Georgia to ensure best practice guidelines are implemented. At present these measures do not include the use of a rodent detection dog, although the feasibility of this is under active consideration with relevant stakeholders as part of wider discussions to continually improve biosecurity.