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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to introduce dog licences in the UK on a similar basis to those available in Northern Ireland.

Defra’s "Action Plan for Animal Welfare" demonstrates our commitment to a brighter future for animals both at home and abroad. We are aware that some people are supportive of an annual registration scheme or dog licence. The old dog licence scheme was repealed by the Local Government Act 1988 and was in effect an ownership registration scheme. Now that dog microchipping and registration on an associated database is mandatory, this is no longer necessary and we have no plans at this time to reintroduce such a scheme.