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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating a centralised database of licenced (a) breeders and (b) sellers of (i) dogs and (ii) other pets.

Interested parties can check whether a dog breeder or pet seller is licensed without separately referring to a database. Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, licensed dog breeders and pet sellers must display a copy of their licence at any premises where the activity is carried out and their licence number and name on any website used for the activity.

The associated statutory guidance also recommends that local authorities publish a list of licenced businesses and their star ratings on their website.