Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) maximum and (b) average sentence is for people convicted of stealing pets in England and Wales.

There are different theft offences under the Theft Act 1968 any of which could relate to the theft of pets depending on the individual circumstances of the case. Centrally held information on theft offences does not identify if a pet specifically was stolen. The information may be held on court records but to be able to identify cases in which pets were stolen would require access to individual court records which would be of disproportionate cost.