Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to amend the Hunting Act 2004 to ban trail hunting.
We recognise it is possible that dogs may on occasion pick up and follow the scent of live foxes during a trail hunt. Failure to prevent dogs from chasing or killing a fox may be taken as intent to break the law. Enforcement of the Hunting Act is an operational matter for the police.
The Government has made a manifesto commitment not to change the Hunting Act.