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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to make any exceptions for the use of electric shock collars for (a) training dogs and (b) any other animals, within the Government's proposed ban on the use of electric shock collars.

One of the key reforms in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare is to ban electric shock collars controlled by hand-held devices, given their scope to harm the welfare of dogs, including those deemed reactive. We continue to work closely with the animal welfare sector, enforcement agencies and Governments across the four nations on this ban.

The ban will be made via secondary legislation under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The legislation needed to ban these e-collars in England will be laid before Parliament as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

We have listened carefully to a range of views from pet owners and respondents, as well as consulting key stakeholders including animal welfare charities, e-collar manufacturers, and trainers who use e-collars. The Government does not plan to extend the ban to invisible fencing systems, as they are associated with reduced risks of harming pets.