Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions Ministers in his Department have had with the Immigration Minister on (a) puppy smuggling and (b) collaboration between Animal and Plant Health Agency and Border Force in tackling that activity.
Answered by David Rutley
Defra takes the issue of the smuggling of dogs and puppies seriously. It is an abhorrent trade which causes suffering to the smuggled dogs and puts the health of pets and people in the UK at risk. We are working hard to tackle the problem, targeting both the supply and demand of illegally imported dogs. This approach includes enforcement, international engagement, tighter regulation and public communications.
A meeting with the Immigration Minister, specifically to discuss puppy smuggling, was arranged a few weeks ago for mid-June.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) continues to work collaboratively with Border Force at ports and airports, sharing intelligence in order to disrupt illegal imports.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many kittens and cats entered the UK under the Pet Travel Scheme in 2018.
Answered by David Rutley
In 2018, 28,979 cats and kittens entered Great Britain under the Pet Travel Scheme. This data is not publically available, but is held by the Animal and Plant Agency (APHA). APHA only holds data on the number of pets entering Great Britain (rather than the UK as a whole).
This statistic is based on information provided by checkers employed by approved carriers of pet animals. It is a true reflection of the information that we have access to, however, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data, as it is provided to us by third parties.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information Animal and Plant Health Agency holds on animals imported into the UK under the Pet Travel Scheme; and (a) when and (b) for what reasons that Agency stopped recording the country of origin of animals imported under that scheme.
Answered by David Rutley
Currently the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) holds data on the total number of animals entering Great Britain under the Pet Travel Scheme, and the number of animals that failed the compliance checks.
APHA stopped recording the country of origin of compliant animals imported under the scheme in 2016. Detailed data on non-compliant pet animals, including the country in which the paperwork accompanying the animal was issued, is always collected.
In previous years the country of origin data was taken from a legacy database (Pets database) which was deployed in 2006 when the throughput of pet animals was much lower. Pet carriers recorded details of pet animals entering Great Britain, including the country of origin.
APHA introduced a new system to establish the quality of the submitted data available from the Pets Database. This new system more accurately records the number of pet animals entering the country but does not record the country in which the paperwork was issued or the country the animal travelled from.
When the new system was introduced to verify throughput figures it was identified that recording the country of origin for compliant animals would place an undue burden on the carriers given the volume of pets travelling (the number of pets entering Great Britain has increased from 91,308 in 2006 to 336,446 in 2018).
Collecting the country of origin data for compliant pet imports has not proved useful in deterring puppy smuggling as it is essentially collecting information on legal movements; however APHA are looking at how this data could be accurately collected in the future and the likely costs that would be involved.
There is no legal requirement for the country of origin to be recorded, and we always relied on the good will of the carriers to record this information.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs were imported (a) in total and (b) from each country of origin using the Balai Directive in 2018.
Answered by David Rutley
The numbers of dogs that were imported in total and from each country of origin using the Balai Directive in 2018 were as follows:
The total number of dogs imported in 2018 was 37,144.
The breakdown of this figure by country is as follows:
Country Of Origin | Dogs |
Austria | 1 |
Belgium | 1 |
Bulgaria | 216 |
Croatia | 265 |
Cyprus | 3566 |
Czech Republic | 63 |
Denmark | 1 |
Estonia | 2 |
Finland | 3 |
France | 72 |
Germany | 13 |
Greece | 107 |
Hungary | 1585 |
Ireland (Rep. of) | 7828 |
Italy | 26 |
Latvia | 1 |
Lithuania | 6 |
Malta | 4 |
Netherlands | 111 |
Poland | 881 |
Portugal | 173 |
Romania | 17189 |
Slovakia | 23 |
Slovenia | 3 |
Spain | 4995 |
Sweden | 9 |
Total | 37,144 |
The data for commercial imports covers the number of animals imported into the UK, and was extracted from TRACES through the Qlikview facility by searching for imports of dogs and their commodity codes in 2018 to the UK by country of origin. These figures cover all commercially imported dogs, including commercial puppies, rescue dogs, research dogs and unaccompanied pets.
The information that the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has provided is a true reflection of the information that is held. APHA cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data, as the information has been entered into TRACES by a third party.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs were imported (a) in total and (b) from each country of origin via the Pet Travel Scheme in 2018.
Answered by David Rutley
307,357 dogs were imported in total via the Pet Travel Scheme in 2018.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is unable to provide a breakdown of the number of dogs travelling under the scheme by country as it does not hold that information.
The data regarding the Pet Travel Scheme is taken from APHA’s system for recording pets’ throughput based on information provided by checkers employed by approved carriers of pet animals.
The information that APHA has provided is a true reflection of the information that is held. APHA cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data, as it can only rely on the information that has been entered into the pets’ returns by a third party.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to ban the use of electronic pet training collars.
Answered by David Rutley
On 27 August 2018, the Government announced that it would ban hand-held remote controlled electronic training collars for dogs. We are currently drafting the legislation needed to implement this ban.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has conducted an economic impact study on the effects of clean air zones and associated air quality measures on businesses in Nottingham.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government assessed the impacts of charging clean air zones on businesses nationally in the 2016 impact assessment. This did not look at the impacts on Nottingham in isolation.
As set out in the NO2 plan, it is the responsibility of local authorities such as Nottingham to, as part of their feasibility studies, assess the impact a local plan could have on individuals and businesses, including through an economic impact assessment and a distributional and equalities impact analysis. This includes consultation of relevant stakeholders where appropriate.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) officials of his Department have had with small and medium businesses in Nottingham on the financial effect of proposed clean air zones and associated air quality measures.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra has not had direct discussions with small and medium-sized businesses in Nottingham about the financial effect of clean air zones.
The Government assessed the impacts of charging Clean Air Zones on businesses nationally in the 2016 impact assessment. This did not look at the impacts on Nottingham in isolation. The UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations and documents associated with it, such as the Clean Air Zone framework, were consulted on several times, inviting relevant stakeholders to submit their views.
As set out in the UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations, it is the responsibility of local authorities such as Nottingham to, as part of their feasibility studies, assess the impact a local plan could have on individuals and businesses, including through an economic impact assessment and a distributional and equalities impact analysis. This includes consultation of relevant stakeholders where appropriate.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer question 138535, on Dogs: Smuggling, how many puppies were seized at Dover and Folkestone and placed in quarantine under the Puppy Pilot in (a) each month between 1 October 2017 and 31 March 2018 and (b) April 2018.
Answered by George Eustice
The number of puppies seized and quarantined at Dover and Folkestone under the Puppy Pilot from 1 October 2017 to 30 April 2018 are as follows:
Month | Puppies seized and quarantined |
October 2017 | 61 |
November 2017 | 37 |
December 2017 | 23 |
January 2018 | 5 |
February 2018 | 12 |
March 2018 | 5 |
April 2018 | 3 |