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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to bring forward legislative proposals on banning the live (a) sale and (b) transportation of crustaceans.

The Government is considering carefully the implications of recognising in law the sentience of decapod crustaceans and is working constructively with industry and stakeholders on these issues.

Currently legislation protects all animals from being transported in a way likely to cause injury or suffering. Invertebrates are protected from injury or unnecessary suffering during transportation by a general duty of care provision in Article 4 of The Welfare of Animals (Transport) (England) Order 2006 (WATEO) and equivalent national legislation in Scotland and Wales. WATEO requires that animals are transported in receptacles or means of transport under conditions (in particular with regard to space, ventilation, temperature and security) and with such supply of liquid and oxygen, as are appropriate for the species concerned.