Prior to 2013, work on the illegal wildlife trade (IWT), in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) was handled by individual geographical departments and figures on staffing are not available without disproportionate cost. In 2013 a dedicated illegal wildlife trade team of three full-time staff, including one funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), was set up in the FCO. This team was responsible for organising the London Conference on IWT in February 2014, working closely with Defra, the lead government department. Following the London Conference, this team was reduced to one full-time staff member. Since July 2014, in the run up to the Botswana Conference, two staff members in the FCO have been working predominantly on IWT, supported by a number of others working part-time.<\/p>
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In the FCO\u2019s overseas network, several UK based and locally engaged staff work part time on IWT. It is not possible to provide a breakdown without disproportionate cost. From January to March 2015, there has been one UK based member of staff working full time on the IWT temporarily seconded to support the government of Botswana.<\/p>
<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1408", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Swire"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "East Devon"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Hugo Swire"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-01-27", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-01-27T16:20:57.997Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "16"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2015-01-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Wildlife: Smuggling"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many foreign UK-based and locally-engaged staff of his Department worked (a) part-time and (b) full-time on tackling the illegal wildlife trade in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12, (iii) 2012-13, (iv) 2013-14 and (v) 2014-15 to date; and if he will make a statement.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4062", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Richmond Park"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Zac Goldsmith"} ], "uin" : "221604"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/91625", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/91625/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Government recognises that the multi-billion pound illegal wildlife trade not only has a devastating effect on affected species.<\/p>
The Government hosted a major conference of global leaders in London in February 2014 to help eradicate the illegal wildlife trade and better protect affected species from the threat of extinction. 25 practical commitments to action were agreed in a Declaration by the participating states. One of those commitments was to undertake further assessment of the markets and dynamics of the illegal wildlife trade and progress made to combat it, including exploring links to terrorism.<\/p>
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office commissioned a review of the Global Impacts of the Illegal Wildlife Trade: The Costs of Crime, Insecurity and Institutional Erosion, which was published in February this year. This Review found that armed non-state actors are involved with poaching. Progress on all commitments in the London Declaration will be assessed at a follow-up Conference in Kasane, Botswana, in March 2015.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1559", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir James Duddridge"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Rochford and Southend East"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "James Duddridge"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-10-16", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-10-16T13:44:54.4640492Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "16"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2014-09-11", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Wildlife: Smuggling"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the extent of the role of terrorist organisations in the illegal ivory and wildlife smuggling trade.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/318", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for John Spellar"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Warley"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr John Spellar"} ], "uin" : "209107"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }