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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to prevent pet shops in England using breeding licences held in Northern Ireland to avoid the ban on third party puppy sales.

The UK is a world leader in animal welfare, and the Government is committed to cracking down on unscrupulous breeders who breed dogs purely for financial greed at the expense of animal welfare.

Since April 2020, in line with the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (the 2019 Amendment to the 2018 Regulations), pet shops, pet dealers and other commercial pet sellers have been prevented from selling puppies and kittens in England that they have not bred themselves. This applies in cases where puppies are bred outside of England meaning that a pet shop in England is already prohibited from selling puppies bred in Northern Ireland unless they have bred them themselves.

This addresses welfare concerns associated with puppies and kittens bought and sold by third parties, including the early separation of animals from their mothers and the keeping of puppies and kittens at inappropriate commercial premises.

Local authorities are responsible for licensing a business to determine whether a licence holder has bred the animals they are selling. Our updated guidance to the 2018 Regulations, which has been amended to reflect the changes brought in by the 2019 Amendment, sets out how local authorities might determine whether someone can be said to have bred the animals they are offering for sale. This guidance has been shared with local authority licensing officers who have powers to investigate and enforce breaches of the guidance.