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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the wellbeing of animals during transportation in the UK.

At the end of last year we launched a consultation in England and Wales on banning the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening and other improvements to animal welfare in transport. We recently introduced into Parliament the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill which includes measures to ban live animal exports for slaughter and fattening from Great Britain. The Government’s response to the consultation was published on 18 August, outlining how we propose to take forward other improvements.

We will work closely with industry, NGOs and other stakeholders on our proposed policies to develop practical and workable solutions to improve animal welfare standards during transportation.

We already have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world and these proposals aim to raise those standards even further.