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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her department has made of allowing exemptions in the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill to allow responsible rescue work of dogs and other animals to continue.

As outlined in the manifesto, this Government is committed to ending puppy smuggling. That is why Defra was pleased to support the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Act 2025.

This Act gives the Government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom.

Defra will use these powers to prohibit puppies and kittens being brought into Great Britain under six months old, dogs and cats with non-exempt mutilations, and heavily pregnant dogs and cats. Any appropriate exemptions to these prohibitions will be delivered via secondary legislation at a later date. In the meantime, Defra will continue to work with stakeholders including rescue organisations and consider their feedback. This Government is clear that any exemptions will need to be finely balanced against the risk of creating loopholes that could be exploited by bad actors.