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 implications for her Department's policies of the findings of the report commissioned by the Welsh Government, entitled The welfare of wild animals in travelling circuses, published in April 2016; and if she will make a statement.

Defra has considered the report, ‘The welfare of wild animals in travelling circuses’, commissioned by the Welsh Government. It remains the position of the Department that there is insufficient evidence to justify a ban on the use of wild animals in circuses on welfare grounds. The Government intends to introduce primary legislation to effect a ban on ethical grounds.