To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 14 November 2007, Official Report, column 245, on ivory, what plans his Department has to undertake research to identify the scale and nature of ivory trade within the UK to inform the EU’s response to the ivory trade questionnaire issued by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. (167723)

The nature of many of the questions will require EU countries to provide relatively simple data about the import and export of ivory. The draft EU response will be discussed at the next EU Management Committee on trade in wild fauna and flora on 14 December in Brussels. Once we have seen the draft we will provide additional information as necessary.