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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the deterrent effect that increased maximum sentences for cruelty against animals have had in Northern Ireland; and whether she has made an assessment of the implications of those effects for her Department's policies.

The increase in the maximum sentences only came into effect on 1 August 2016. No such assessments have therefore been made.