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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the the European Commission announcement entitled Vision for Agriculture and Food, published on 19 February 2025, if he will hold discussions with animal welfare organisations on the potential merits of implementing the same regulations as proposed in the EU on (a) phasing out the use of cages for farmed animals and (b) introducing animal welfare labelling.

This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation. The Department is engaging with key animal welfare stakeholders as part of the development of our overarching approach to animal welfare.

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

A public consultation on proposals to improve and extend current mandatory method of production labelling was undertaken last year by the previous Government. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will respond to this consultation in due course.

We await the EU Commission proposals on phasing out the use of cages for farmed animals and animal welfare labelling with interest.