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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2016 to Question 40644, what recent assessment she has made of improvements in the way lion hunting takes place; what criteria are used to measure such improvements; and if she will make a statement.

Defra is continuing to look carefully at the issue of lion hunting and trophy imports.

At the 17^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in September 2016, which I attended, Parties agreed to remove a loophole allowing hunting trophies to be transported as personal effects. Parties also agreed clear criteria which the exporting country should consider when assessing that the hunt was both legal and sustainable before issuing an export permit.

In the case of lions, the UK has to then confirm that we agree with this assessment and issue a corresponding import permit before any import can take place. As part of this process, the UK’s scientific advisors for fauna, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, considers whether the import would be harmful to the conservation of the species or the extent of its range, taking into account available scientific evidence. An import permit is only issued if the trade is not considered to be detrimental to the survival of the species in the wild.