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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has considered revising its guidance to local authorities on dog breeding licence fees in relation to (a) if the licence is new or being renewed, (b) the scale of the licensed activity measured by the number of breeding dogs and (c) how far the cost recovery principle can cover enforcement.

Under The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (the Regulations), a local authority can charge such fees as it considers reasonable to meet its statutory licensing responsibilities. The Regulations require local authorities to provide an annual return to the department outlining their licensing fees. That information is published here.

Defra has recently completed its Post-Implementation Review of the Regulations and considered local authority returns and other evidence about the fees charged by local authorities. The review was published in December 2024 and can be found here. The Government is considering the review’s findings and will be outlining more detail on next steps in due course.