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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with devolved Administrations on the consistency of on-farm animal welfare inspections across the United Kingdom.

Animal welfare is a devolved matter in the UK. This means that responsibility for animal welfare policy in the individual nations is the responsibility of the relevant nations’ Ministers.

However, Defra works closely with the devolved Governments on a range of shared priorities and will discuss any relevant matters as necessary such as animal welfare inspections.