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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the press notice entitled More lost pets to return home as microchipping system reformed, published on 29 March 2024, what progress her Department has made on introducing a central portal to search pet microchip records.

The Department is working closely with the Association of Microchip Database Operators to explore the development of an industry-led solution that would make it easier for authorised users to access information contained on the databases digitally.