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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to increase awareness of the impending legal requirement for dogs to be microchipped.

The Department has been working with key stakeholders to increase awareness of the need for owners to get their dogs microchipped. This work has included the offer by Dogs Trust, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and Blue Cross of free microchipping, and the launch of the ChipMyDog Facebook page and has helped contribute to the rise in the percentage of dogs microchipped from around 58% in 2013 to an estimated 83% today. We will continue to work with stakeholders to get this message out to dog owners and prospective owners.