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 implications for her policies of trends in the level of costs in the private veterinary industry.

The Department has made no specific assessment of the implications on Defra policies of trends in costs in the private veterinary industry. However, policies are impact assessed in line with the Better Regulation Framework and such assessments consider costs in relation to relevant sectors, which may include the private veterinary sector.