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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of the star system for animal activity licensing process.

The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 were developed to help improve welfare standards across a range of activities involving animals that are licensed by local authorities.

We are committed to learning from implementation and to make improvements where necessary and evidenced. There is a statutory requirement to complete a Post Implementation Review of the legislation by October 2023. We will consider the effectiveness of the associated guidance including the star rating system alongside this work.

As part of planning for this review, we are proactively working with partners, including local authorities, to collate data that can provide a picture of licensed and unlicensed activities involving animals in England. Key trade associations such as the Pet Industry Federation and the Canine and Feline Sector Group will be integral to coordinating input from this diverse sector to inform Defra’s review. This is an ongoing project and one which will benefit from close involvement of the sector in the development of a strong evidence base.