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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to publish the Animals Abroad Bill.

HM Government takes the welfare of all animals seriously and as set out in our Action Plan for Animal Welfare, we are committed to promoting high animal welfare standards, both at home and abroad. We have an ambitious agenda of animal welfare and conservation reforms, and this includes introducing or supporting legislation for specific reforms.

We have pledged to ban the imports of hunting trophies from thousands of species. HM Government is committed to a ban that is among the strongest in the world and leads the way in protecting endangered animals. We welcome the Private Member’s Bill, led by the hon. Member for Crawley, that will deliver this.

We are also committed to banning the import and export of detached shark fins and shark fin products. This ban will help ensure that shark fins obtained through unsustainable and cruel finning practices are not entering the UK. HM Government is committed to the ban and welcomes the Private Member’s Bill, led by the hon. Member for Neath, on this topic.