Asked by: Neil Parish (Conservative - Tiverton and Honiton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to ban the non-commercial importation of pregnant cats as well as pregnant dogs.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill was introduced in Parliament on 8 June. The Bill allows us to protect the welfare of pets by introducing restrictions to crack down on the low welfare movements of pets into Great Britain and includes powers to introduce new restrictions on pet travel and on the commercial import of pets on welfare grounds, via secondary legislation. These restrictions could relate to the movement of pets below a prescribed age and to the movement of heavily pregnant pets under the commercial and non-commercial rules. We will continue to work closely with stakeholders prior to the introduction of the legislation to ensure that our final measures are well considered and are guided by the latest evidence.
The Government is planning to launch a consultation later this year on the proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain. The consultation will allow us to refine the scope of the measures, including whether they apply to cats.
Asked by: Neil Parish (Conservative - Tiverton and Honiton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to increase the minimum age a kitten can enter the UK non-commercially to six months in order to prevent kitten smuggling and protect kitten welfare.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill was introduced in Parliament on the 8 June. The Bill allows us to protect the welfare of pets by introducing restrictions to crack down on the low welfare movements of pets into Great Britain and includes powers to introduce new restrictions on pet travel and on the commercial import of pets on welfare grounds, via secondary legislation. These restrictions could relate to the movement of pets below a prescribed age and to the movement of heavily pregnant pets under the commercial and non-commercial rules. We will continue to work closely with stakeholders prior to the introduction of the legislation to ensure that our final measures are well considered and are guided by the latest evidence.
The Government is planning to launch a consultation later this year on the proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain. The consultation will allow us to refine the scope of the measures, including whether they apply to cats.
Asked by: Neil Parish (Conservative - Tiverton and Honiton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will introduce compulsory tick and tapeworm treatments for cats entering the UK non-commercially.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Pet Travel and Illegal import clauses of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill focus on measures to improve welfare of pets entering Great Britain. We remain aware of the concerns around ticks and tick-borne disease and tapeworm in cats and our future policy will be guided by risk assessment. Defra also continues to monitor the disease situation through the Tick Surveillance Scheme.
Asked by: Neil Parish (Conservative - Tiverton and Honiton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will introduce a requirement for a (a) rabies blood test for cats before entry into the UK and (b) wait period post vaccination which is in line with the incubation period of rabies.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Pet Travel and Illegal import clauses of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill focus on measures to improve welfare of pets entering GB. Recent quantitative risk assessments have concluded that the risk of a pet animal with rabies entering the UK under the pet travel rules is very low. Defra continues to monitor the disease situation.
Asked by: Neil Parish (Conservative - Tiverton and Honiton)
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 is taking to ensure that (a) Government buying standards for food are in line with the UK’s targets for net zero emissions and (b) top-quality British farmers and producers can benefit from public sector contracts.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government will always champion greater consumption of our excellent British food and drink, including from British farmers and local producers. The Government Buying Standards for Food (GBSF) encourages the procurement of UK seasonal and locally produced food.
Defra is launching a public consultation this summer to review the GBSF. We want to enhance the GBSF in line with recent Government policy initiatives around promoting local produce, social value and environment and resource management.
The consultation will seek views as to how public sector food procurement can assist the Government in achieving net zero carbon emissions. This will include proposals for procuring from more sustainable farming systems, as well as ensuring caterers use energy efficient equipment and move away from food waste management to waste reduction.
We will also be seeking views on how the standards could be used to promote even greater uptake of locally produced food by public procurers and their suppliers.
In addition, Defra is working closely with the Crown Commercial Service to develop the Future Food Framework in the South West region. The trial will create significant new opportunities for our farmers and local producers to supply regional public sector bodies.