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 16 February 2022 to Question 120825 on Ivory: Imports, what assessment he has made of reasons for the increase in imports and export permits for bringing ivory into and out of the UK between 2020 and 2021.

Once implemented, the Ivory Act will introduce one of the toughest bans on elephant ivory sales in the world by banning the dealing in items made of or containing elephant ivory, regardless of their age, unless they fall within one of the narrow and carefully defined exemptions. The ban will come into force in spring 2022.

The Secretary of State has not made an assessment of the reasons for the increase in imports and export permits for bringing ivory into and out of the UK between 2020 and 2021.