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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to produce an animal protection strategy detailing steps to (a) increase animal welfare standards and (b) end the use of cages for farm animals.

This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation. The Department has initiated a series of meetings with key stakeholders as part of the development of an overarching approach to animal welfare. We will be outlining more detail in due course.

The use of cages and other close confinement systems for farmed animals is an issue which we are currently considering very carefully.