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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department last carried out an assessment of the potential effect on the ivory trade globally of a ban on that trade in the UK.

The government launched a consultation on banning UK sales of ivory on 6 October. As part of preparations for this consultation the government assessed the potential effect such a ban could have on the international ivory trade. This assessment can be found in the impact assessment published alongside the consultation.