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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated total annual gross cost of the registration scheme outlined in the Ivory Bill in respect of pre-1947 items with low ivory content; and how many items they anticipate will be registered each year.

We are working on the design and development of the new IT system to facilitate the registration process, in line with the principles of managing public money. Those registering items will need to pay a fee to cover the costs of registration.

The data available does not provide an exact number of items in the UK that are made of or contain ivory. We are therefore unable to anticipate how many items owners may wish to sell, and subsequently register, each year under this exemption.

We will, however, once the ban is in force, be publishing headline data on the number of exemption certificates that have been issued for each category of exemption.