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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department is providing to XL bully dog owners who were unable to neuter their dog before the deadline.

Owners who applied for a Certificate of Exemption by 31 January 2024 must provide evidence of neutering to Defra by the relevant deadlines to ensure that their certificate remains valid. We provided extended neutering deadlines so that owners did not need to wait to have their dog neutered before applying for a Certificate of Exemption. Dogs that were older than one year old on 31 January 2024, must be neutered and evidence received by 30 June 2024. Dogs that were younger than one year old on 31 January 2024 must be neutered and evidence received by 31 December 2024. We recommend that owners arrange for their dogs to be neutered as soon as possible to meet these deadlines.