Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to make checking pet microchip databases as efficient as possible.
We are carrying out a post-implementation review of the Microchipping of Dogs (England) Regulations that came into effect in 2016, which will consider whether improvements can be made to the current regime, including the operation of the databases.
We will come forward with proposals shortly. A public consultation on the 2016 Regulations will take place following this.
This is a devolved matter and these developments relate to the situation applying in England.