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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what training police staff receive to equip them with the skills to respond to reports of dangerous dog attacks from XL bullies.

The police have a range of powers available to tackle dangerous dogs of all breeds, and Defra officials are working in partnership with police forces across England and Wales to ensure the full range of existing dog control powers are effectively applied. As part of this, we have been collaborating with police to deliver sessions to share best practice in preventive dog control enforcement and encourage multi-agency working to ensure dog control issues are addressed before they escalate.

Regarding the XL Bully ban specifically, Defra will be supporting the police to deliver additional training to officers to make sure the ban is effectively enforced. We are liaising with the four training centres that deliver Dog Legislation Officer training to ensure officers are upskilled and able to consistently apply the breed standard for the XL Bully breed type.