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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including mandatory visual checks of imported puppies at the UK border as part of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill.

Now that we have left the EU, we are making significant changes to domestic law through the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, bringing in legislation to further protect the welfare of pets, farmed and kept wild animals in Great Britain.

The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill allows us to further protect the welfare of pets by introducing restrictions to crack down on low welfare movements of pets into Great Britain. The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill also includes powers to introduce further restrictions on pet travel and on the commercial import of pets on welfare grounds, via secondary legislation. We have no plans to introduce further visual checks as part of the Bill.