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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she can confirm if the forthcoming consultation on phasing out farrowing crates will be based on a transition to free farrowing systems rather than permitting the use of continued temporary crating.

The recently published animal welfare strategy sets out that ending the use of farrowing crates is a key priority for this Government. We want to work with the industry to help them transition away from the use of farrowing crates to alternative systems: either flexible farrowing where the sow is confined for the crucial few days around farrowing, or free farrowing where there is no confinement during farrowing or lactation.