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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing the Calgary model of dog bite prevention.

We have no plans at this time to reintroduce a mandatory dog licence, as required in Calgary. The previous dog licence was repealed by the Local Government Act 1988 because it cost more to administer than the revenue it generated. This licencing system was in effect an ownership registration scheme. Now that microchipping is mandatory, this is no longer necessary.