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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) updating and (b) consolidating the regulations on dog control.

The Government considers that the powers and measures contained within dangerous dog legislation allow enforcers such as police and local authorities to take the necessary action in order to prevent and tackle incidents of dangerous dogs. Local initiatives such as Local Environmental Awareness on Dogs (LEAD) can also be adopted in areas where police, local authorities and other interested parties can come together to promote responsible dog ownership.

In addition, early intervention measures such as Community Protection Notices can be issued by local authority officers or police to anyone causing low level anti-social behaviour involving a dog.

The Government last reviewed the law on dangerous dogs in 2014 and made a number of changes. The changes included extending the scope of the offence of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control from public places to all places; increasing the maximum penalties for allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control; when a dog causes injury or death and when a dog attacks an assistance dog.

The Government realises the importance of quality research to help inform its policy, and in November 2018 Defra commissioned further research in collaboration with Middlesex University to look at responsible ownership across all breeds of dog. The research will consider different approaches and the effectiveness of current dog control measures. The research will also seek to identify and examine the factors and situations that may cause dog attacks and how to promote responsible dog ownership.