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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many XL Bullies registered with the exemption scheme have not been neutered.

For a Certificate of Exemption to remain valid, owners must arrange to have their XL Bully dog neutered and to provide evidence of this to Defra by set deadlines. These deadlines are 30 June 2024 if the dog was 12 months or older on 31 January 2024, 31 December 2024 if the dog was at least 7 months old, but less than 12 months old on 31 January 2024, and 30 June 2025 if the dog was younger than 7 months on 31 January 2024.

As these deadlines have not yet passed, we have not received and processed all forms and so we do not hold data on the number of XL Bullies that have not been neutered. We recommend that owners arrange for their dogs to be neutered as soon as possible to meet these deadlines.