To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his assessment is of (a) the quality of the data produced by the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants system and (b) its ability to detect changes in poaching rates. (141251)

I am satisfied that the standards established for the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) system, together with the governance arrangements, including advice from the MIKE-ETIS Technical Advisory Group, ensure that the data gathered are of sufficient quality.

Similarly, I am content that the data available to MIKE are fit for the purpose for which they are intended, namely:

(a) to measure levels and trends in the illegal hunting of elephants;

(b) to determine changes in these trends over time; and

(c) to determine the factors causing or associated with such changes, and to try and assess, in particular, to what extent observed trends are a result of any decisions taken by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).