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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of adding the spiny lobster to the list of protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Consideration of the species to be protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is subject to a quinquennial review process by which Schedule 5 and Schedule 8 (listing protected animals and plants respectively) of the Act are reviewed by the British Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies; as set out under the requirements of Section 24 of that Act. This is the process by which Spiny Lobster would be assessed for addition to Schedule 5 of the Act.