Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the income raised from charges for certificates of exemption to keep an XL Bully dog have been ringfenced to (a) cover the administrative costs of the exemption scheme and (b) support local authorities to enforce the ban.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The application fee paid by XL bully owners on registering an XL Bully covers the administrative costs for the life of the dog, including processing the application and lifetime record management.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of dog legislation officer capacity to implement the ban on American Bully XL type dogs.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will be supporting the police to deliver additional training to Dog Legislation Officers to make sure the ban is effectively enforced. We are liaising with the Home Office about any additional resourcing needs that may be required once the ban is in force.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for dog legislation officers to be trained to enforce the ban on American Bully XL type dogs.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will be supporting the police to deliver additional training to Dog Legislation Officers to make sure the ban is effectively enforced. We are liaising with the Home Office about any additional resourcing needs that may be required once the ban is in force.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Scottish and Welsh counterparts on banning the import and sale of fur since April 2022.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has regular discussions with the Devolved Administrations about a range of animal welfare topics. This includes our work to build the evidence base on the fur sector.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the ban on American Bully XL dogs on the dog rehoming sector.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has worked closely with stakeholders including rescue and rehoming centres to consider the impacts of banning XL Bully dogs. The activity of rehoming an XL Bully will be prohibited after 31 December 2023, in accordance with the range of restrictions required under Section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to paragraph 12.1 of the explanatory memorandum to The Dangerous Dogs (Designated Types) (England and Wales) Order 2023, how her Department estimated the cost to businesses, charities and voluntary bodies of those regulations.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The cost estimates referred to in the Explanatory Memorandum to The Dangerous Dogs (Designated Types) (England and Wales) Order 2023 were developed using evidence and data collated from a range of sources including animal welfare charities, and other key stakeholders.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the resources that will be required to implement the proposed ban on American Bully XLs; and whether her Department plans to take steps to help support (a) animal welfare charities, (b) local authorities and (c) the police when the proposed ban comes into effect.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We are working with animal welfare charities, local authority representatives and the police to identify the resources that will be required to implement the ban on American XL Bully breed type dogs. We will continue to work closely as the ban comes into effect
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Animal Welfare Statement on 25 May 2023, what the Government’s timeline and legislative process is for bringing forward measures relating to (a) pet smuggling and (b) pet abduction; and if she will take steps to ensure cats and kittens are included in those proposals.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We will be taking these measures forward individually during the remainder of this Parliament. Parliamentary business will be announced in the usual way.
We have listened carefully to views expressed about extending both measures to cats and we are currently considering this further.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to extend the carry-over motion to the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill before 8 June 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The remaining stages of the Kept Animals Bill will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to introduce mandatory due diligence for forest risk commodities as set out in the Consultation on implementing due diligence on forest risk commodities: Summary of responses and government response, published in June 2022.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The UK Government has introduced world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to help tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains.
We ran a consultation from 3 December 2021 to 11 March 2022 to seek views on the details of regulations that will implement the Environment Act provisions, to ensure that these are designed effectively.
The Government published a summary of responses to this consultation on 1 June 2022 and is committed to implementing due diligence provisions at the earliest opportunity through secondary legislation.