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 adequacy of the protections under section 1(3A) of the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 for livestock and farmers where livestock have strayed onto a road or path.

The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953, as amended, covers livestock worrying incidents that take place on roads and paths, such as when animals are being moved from one field to another or where the person in charge of the dog causes it to attack straying livestock on a road or path.

This offers a proportionate balance between protecting livestock and ensuring dog owners are not unfairly criminalised in situations where livestock have escaped their enclosures. Farmers remain responsible for taking reasonable steps to prevent livestock from straying.