The Animal Welfare Act 2006 (the 2006 Act) provides comprehensive powers to tackle animal welfare offences.

Regarding the suggestion of a registered breeder index, the Government committed to ending puppy farming in its manifesto. DEFRA is considering the most effective way to deliver this and will be setting out next steps in due course.

More widely on dog breeding, under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (the 2018 Regulations), anyone in the business of breeding and selling dogs and/or who breeds three or more litters in a 12-month period needs to have a valid licence from their local authority. Licensees must meet strict statutory minimum welfare standards, which are enforced by local authorities who have powers to issue, refuse, vary or revoke licences. DEFRA has completed a post-implementation review of the 2018 Regulations in line with the requirements of the Regulations’ review clause. The report into the review can be found here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/486/impacts. The Government is considering the report’s findings and will be outlining more detail on next steps in due course.

On the suggested creation of a canine competency certificate, the Government has reconvened the Responsible Dog Ownership Taskforce, which will explore how education and training (for dogs and owners) can promote more responsible dog ownership. The taskforce will also provide recommendations on enforcement and data collection.

Regarding policing and enforcement, the 2006 Act grants powers to local authorities, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and the police to investigate allegations of animal cruelty or poor welfare. Where animal welfare offences have occurred, the 2006 Act makes various enforcement options available, ranging from guidance, warning letters and improvement notices to regulatory actions, and prosecution. Local authorities will often work in close partnership with others, including animal welfare charities, such as the RSPCA, to protect the welfare of animals. Local authorities must be allowed to decide how to enforce the 2006 Act based on local priorities and resources.

Powers under Section 18 of the 2006 Act also allow the police and local authority inspectors to seize an animal if a veterinary surgeon certifies that the animal is suffering or is likely to suffer if its circumstances do not change. The police or inspector may act without veterinary certification if it is not reasonably practicable to wait for a veterinary surgeon. They may also take steps where it is immediately necessary to alleviate that suffering, such as to arrange for veterinary treatment. If further steps are needed, for example further veterinary treatment or rehoming an animal, a court order may be applied for.

There are also already strict penalties in place for animal welfare offences. The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 introduced a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine for animal cruelty offences. The addition of penalty notices under the Animals (Penalty Notices) Act 2022 brought in a middle ground deterrent that provides a financial penalty of up to £5000. Penalty notices could be issued for offences such as animals living in a poor environment or animal breeders operating without a licence.

Moving forward, the Government published its response to the Animal Sentience Committee’s report on animal welfare legislative compliance and enforcement. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-the-animal-sentience-committees-report-on-animal-welfare-legislation-enforcement. This sets out some of the work we are doing to improve our enforcement regime, including reforming the way we collect and publish supporting data, reviewing whether our current enforcement tools are effective, proportionate, and transparent, and considering what more could be done.

The Government has been clear that the ban on XL bullies is an important measure to protect public safety and it is committed to ensuring that the ban is fully enforced to safeguard our communities from dangerous dogs. DEFRA continues to engage closely with the police, local authorities, and rescue and rehoming organisations to monitor the impacts of the XL Bully dog ban. More broadly, DEFRA continues to work with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to encourage responsible dog ownership.

This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation. DEFRA has initiated a series of meetings with animal welfare groups as part of this work and it will be publishing an animal welfare strategy later this year.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

This is a revised response. The Petitions Committee requested a response which more directly addressed the request of the petition. You can find the original response towards the bottom of the petition page (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/720491)