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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to tackle dog attacks; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of reintroducing dog licences, in the context of recent increases in the number of dog attacks.

Defra is working with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to help prevent dog attacks by encouraging responsible dog ownership, making sure dog control issues are addressed before they escalate and that the full force of the law is applied.

We have no plans currently to reintroduce a mandatory dog licence. The old licensing system was repealed by the Local Government Act 1988 because it cost more to administer than the revenue it generated. The old licensing system was in effect an ownership registration scheme. Now that microchipping is mandatory, this is no longer necessary.