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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason guidance entitled, Taking your pet abroad if there's no Brexit deal, which was updated on 19 December 2018, was withdrawn on 11 January 2019; and if he will make a statement.

Following our decision to leave the EU, Defra is working to make sure pet owners wishing to travel with their pets to the EU after March 29 are made aware of any potential changes to the pet travel scheme and what actions need to be taken. We have taken the view that centralising this guidance is prudent to reacting quickly to changes as needed as well as for clarity purposes.

For this reason, while the guidance issued on 24 September 2018 Taking your pet abroad if there’s no Brexit deal remains active, it has been replaced with follow-up advice on GOV.UK called “Pet travel to Europe after Brexit”.

While the information contained in this later release hasn’t changed from the previous technical notice, it emphasises the need for owners to seek advice from their veterinarian and also focuses on a “no deal” scenario, as opposed to the range of possible scenarios discussed in the technical notice.