Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to seek a derogation from Regulation (EC) 561/2006 for lorries carrying livestock; and if he will make a statement.

There are already two national derogations in Regulation (EC) 561/2006 relating to drivers’ hours rules, which may apply to lorries carrying livestock. One applies to lorries carrying livestock (or other goods) as part of an agricultural business’s own entrepreneurial activity within a 100km radius. A second applies to lorries carrying live animals between a farm and a market or from a market to a slaughterhouse within a 100km radius. Both of these derogations have been taken up in full in domestic UK legislation, and there are no plans to seek a further derogation.