To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what discussions he has received from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee concerning the international trade in wild caught birds.

The JNCC's report "International Trade in Wildlife: A Review of Sustainable Use", published last October, is relevant to the bird trade. Since then, I have had discussions with both the UNCC and other interested organisations about the aspects of the trade, especially in the context of proposals for discussion at the current conference of the parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES.