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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure all horse owners register with the Government's Central Equine Database.

All horses resident in the UK are required to hold an equine passport, which requires registration with a UK Passport Issuing Organisation (PIO). Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/262 requires the particulars of this passport to be included in a national equine database, which includes details of the horse’s owner. The UK therefore requires all PIOs to share relevant data with the Central Equine Database. This gives government, Local Authorities and the Food Standards Agency access to records on all horses and other equines resident in the UK.