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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the possibility of illegal puppy and kitten dealers establishing themselves as rescue centres to continue their trade after the ban on third-party sales of such animals comes into force; whether they intend to carry out a consultation on that issue; and whether they intend to introduce licensing requirements on animal sanctuaries and rescue centres to prevent any such activity.

The Government is committed to banning the third party sale of puppies and kittens in England and the necessary secondary legislation will be laid before Parliament later in this session.

We recognise the concern that some unscrupulous breeders may consider setting up as rescue and rehoming centres, and we will provide guidance to Local Authorities to help them distinguish between genuine rescue and rehoming centres and other commercial operations. In parallel, we are working with stakeholders to understand the impact that any licensing scheme would have on the sector.

Further detail on the Government’s overall approach to the licensing of animal rescue and rehoming centres was set out by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in a Westminster Hall debate on 26 February 2019. The Hansard of the debate can be found here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2019-02-26/debates/EC70319B-914E-408C-A987-7C4DE9D98F1E/AnimalRescueHomes