Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to help support UK (a) farmers and (b) fishers where (i) animal welfare standards and (ii) climate and nature policies contribute to higher farming costs, in the context of the cost of imported produce.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has been clear that it will protect farmers in trade deals. The Government will not lower food standards and will uphold high animal welfare standards. It will create new export opportunities for our high-quality British produce.
Supporting British farmers and boosting the nation’s food security are key priorities for the Government. The Government allocated £11.8 billion this Parliament to sustainable farming and food production, targeting public money where it delivers most value.
In terms of wider support to the fishing industry, the Government is committed to the industry’s long-term prosperity and sustainability, which is why we launched the £360 million Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Department's policy paper entitled Animal Welfare Strategy for England, published on 22 December 2025, whether her Department plans to publish a timetable for the introduction of dog licences for dog breeders.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, anyone in the business of breeding and selling dogs and/or who breeds three or more litters in a twelve-month period needs to have a valid licence from their local authority.
The Government is committed to ending puppy farming and the low welfare breeding of dogs. As part of the Animal Welfare Strategy, the Government has committed to launch a consultation on dog breeding reform. Next steps will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the risk to non-farmed animals of disease transmission from the nearby presence of a fish farm.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra’s disease control measures seek to contain the number of animals that need to be culled, either for disease control purposes or to safeguard animal welfare. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI) are responsible for the delivery of aquatic animal health controls in England and Wales. The FHI maintains a comprehensive programme of inspections to assess farmed fish health, designed to prevent the introduction and spread of the most serious listed and emerging diseases, and ensure that all aquaculture production businesses operate under approved biosecurity plans. These plans must take account of the potential for infectious disease transmission to wild aquatic animals and set out measures to minimise that risk.
The recently published Animal Welfare Strategy for England set out that we will commission the Animal Welfare Committee’s advice on the welfare of farmed fish prior to slaughter. Amongst other things this project will consider the effects of stocking densities. The Animal Welfare Strategy also commits to introduce humane slaughter requirements for farmed fish into legislation, subject to consultation.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she will take to improving the health of farmed fish during production; and if she will give consideration to increasing spacing to reduce the risk of disease transmission between fish.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra’s disease control measures seek to contain the number of animals that need to be culled, either for disease control purposes or to safeguard animal welfare. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI) are responsible for the delivery of aquatic animal health controls in England and Wales. The FHI maintains a comprehensive programme of inspections to assess farmed fish health, designed to prevent the introduction and spread of the most serious listed and emerging diseases, and ensure that all aquaculture production businesses operate under approved biosecurity plans. These plans must take account of the potential for infectious disease transmission to wild aquatic animals and set out measures to minimise that risk.
The recently published Animal Welfare Strategy for England set out that we will commission the Animal Welfare Committee’s advice on the welfare of farmed fish prior to slaughter. Amongst other things this project will consider the effects of stocking densities. The Animal Welfare Strategy also commits to introduce humane slaughter requirements for farmed fish into legislation, subject to consultation.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
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 take steps to include proposals on the regulation of veterinary fees for uninsured animals in the upcoming consultation on reform of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The forthcoming consultation on potential reforms to the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 will include proposals for a new framework through which all pet owners would have better access to treatment options.
The proposed reforms could also help address cost of living concerns, including through mandatory business regulation, and embedding any remedies proposed by the Competition and Markets Authority.
Pet owners who have difficulty affording veterinary treatment can consider contacting charities such as Blue Cross and the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA).
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a grading system for food labelling that rates the animal welfare standards in the food’s production.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As set out in the animal welfare strategy, the Government committed to ensuring that consumers have access to clear information on how their food was produced. To support this, the Government will continue working with relevant stakeholders, including the farming and food industry, scientists and NGOs to explore how improved animal welfare food labelling could provide greater consumer transparency, support farmers and promote better animal welfare.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to encourage industry to end the practice of culling male laying hen chicks; and if she will publish a timetable for taking these steps.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As stated in the recently published Animal Welfare Strategy1 the Government welcomes the UK egg industry’s interest in the development of day zero sexing technology. There has been rapid global progress in a range of technologies that could help end the routine culling of male chicks by identifying or determining the sex of chick embryos before hatching as set out in the Animal Welfare Committee’s ‘Opinion on alternatives to culling newly hatched chicks in the egg and poultry industries’.
Aside from in-ovo sexing technology, government is co-funding an initiative to assess the viability of dual-purpose poultry breeds, that is, breeds that can be used for laying eggs and meat therefore avoiding the need to cull males.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help reduce the breeding of animals who are genetically predisposed to brachycephaly.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 anyone breeding dogs and advertising a business of selling dogs and/or who breeds three or more litters of puppies in a twelve-month period must have a licence from their local authority.
Licensees must meet statutory animal welfare standards including a prohibition from breeding dogs if it can be reasonably expected that on the basis of their genotype, phenotype or health, this would lead to welfare problems for the mother or the puppies.
As part of the Animal welfare strategy for England which was published on 22 December 2025, the Government has committed to launch a consultation on dog breeding reform. As part of our consultation, we will consider ways to improve the welfare of breeding dogs and their offspring. Separately, the strategy will see us improve our understanding of the size, scale and current management practices related to cat breeding, drawing on expertise from the sector, and consider any further steps which may improve welfare practices in the cat breeding sector.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress her Department has made on bringing forward legislative proposals to prohibit the importation of hunting trophies.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to banning the import of hunting trophies from species of conservation concern, which is the most effective approach the Government can take on this matter.
The department continues to engage with relevant stakeholders to ensure that we can implement a robust ban.
Timeframes for introducing legislation will be provided once the Parliamentary timetable for future sessions is determined.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of including measures relating to fireworks’ impact on animals in her Department’s Animal Welfare Strategy.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 22 December, the Government published our new animal welfare strategy. This strategy sets out the UK Government’s priorities for England, focusing on the changes and improvements we aim to achieve by 2030.
The Government continues to engage with businesses, consumer groups and charities to gather evidence on the issues and impacts of fireworks, including on animal welfare.