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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Leader of the House on legislative proposals to prevent pet smuggling; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making cat smuggling a criminal offence.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with the Leader of the House about our legislative programme and other matters.

Criminal offences already exist for cats brought into this country in breach of current import requirements.

In Autumn 2021 we consulted on further proposed changes to the rules governing the commercial and non-commercial movement of cats, dogs and ferrets into Great Britain. This included proposals to ban the import of puppies under the age of six months, dogs with cropped ears or docked tails, and dogs that are heavily pregnant.

We are carefully reviewing the feedback from our consultation and wider engagement with stakeholders, a summary will be published in due course.