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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support farmers transitioning away from pig farrowing crates.

Ending the use of farrowing crates is a key priority for this government, as set out in the recently published Animal Welfare Strategy. The Department is therefore committed to working closely with the industry to explore how to transition away from the use of farrowing crates to alternative systems: either flexible farrowing where the sow is confined for the crucial few days around farrowing, or free farrowing where there is no confinement during farrowing or lactation and consult on the transition.