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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to (a) introduce (i) licensing and (ii) regulation for dog and cat rescue centres and (b) prevent fraudulent operations at unregulated rescue centres.

This Government will introduce the most ambitious plan to improve animal welfare in a generation. The Department has initiated a series of meetings with key animal welfare stakeholders as part of the development of an overarching approach to animal welfare. We will be outlining more detail of plans in due course.