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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on discontinuing the use of gestation cages for pigs.

We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. The UK banned gestation crates (also known as sow stalls) in 1999.

The use of farrowing crates for pigs is an issue we are currently considering very carefully.