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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2014 to Question 214826, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies of the Dogs Trust Report, The Puppy Smuggling Scandal; and if she will meet the Dogs Trust to discuss this matter.

The Dogs Trust’s report makes clear that responsibility for stopping the illegal movement of puppies begins in the country where they are born. The UK Chief Veterinary Officer has written to the authorities in the countries highlighted in the report to remind them of their duty to ensure that the welfare of pets intended for sale is safeguarded. We will continue to alert the authorities in any Member State where we become aware of issues in relation to the operation of the pet travel scheme.

There is a robust checking regime for pets travelling into Great Britain. Every pet travelling with its owner on an approved route is checked for compliance with the pet travel regime and UK Border Force carry out a wide range of checks on vehicles arriving in the UK. We will continue to operate this system of compliance checking, working closely with UK Border Force.

A new EU pet travel Regulation came into force on 29 December 2014 and introduced changes designed to improve the security of the pet travel scheme, including a requirement that pets must be at least 12 weeks old when they are vaccinated against rabies. This means that under the new EU rules pets must be at least 15 weeks old to enter the UK.

A request for a meeting has been received from the Dogs Trust and this will be arranged with the relevant Minister.