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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to regulate the cost of Animal Health Certificates issued to pet owners travelling to the EU.

All Animal Health Certificate (AHC) fees are set by veterinary surgeons or veterinary practices and are a private matter between individual practices and their clients and neither the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), the UK regulator of the veterinary profession, nor Defra intervene in the level of fees that are charged.

The Competition and Markets Authority conducted a market investigation into veterinary services for household pets, which noted an above-inflation rise in fees. Defra will respond to this report in due course and set out its ambition to tackle these concerns through reforms to the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966.