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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many financial penalties have been imposed for offences relating to the requirement to microchip cats since 10 June 2024; and what the total value of those penalties was.

The information requested on enforcement and prosecutions is not held centrally by Government.

Defra will keep under review whether to grant local authorities the power to issue conditional fixed penalty notices for non-compliance with microchipping regulations for dogs and cats.

As set out in the Animal Welfare Strategy for England, Defra will continue to support the roll out of cat microchipping.

Defra has not carried out a formal assessment of trends in compliance with the statutory requirement for cats to be microchipped since 10 June 2024.