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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing the importation of ethically-sourced puppies that are under six months old.

The Government recently announced its support for the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Dr Danny Chambers MP. The Bill will close loopholes in the non-commercial pet travel rules that are abused by unscrupulous traders and give the government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom. We will use these powers to prohibit the bringing into Great Britain of puppies and kittens under six months old.

This prohibition and any appropriate exemptions will be delivered via secondary legislation at a later date. Any such exemptions will need to be finely balanced against the risk of creating loopholes that could be exploited.