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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the UK-EU sanitary and phytosanitary agreement on animal welfare standards in the UK.

It is too soon to discuss the details of the SPS agreement, which is subject to negotiation. We have been clear with the EU about the importance of establishing arrangements which enable us to maintain high animal welfare standards.