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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding his Department provides to support pig farmers in transitioning away from farrowing crates to free-farrowing systems.

The use of farrowing crates and other close confinement systems for farmed animals is an issue which the department is currently considering very carefully. At present there is no Government funding available to support pig farmers in transitioning away from farrowing crates to free-farrowing systems.