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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to seek to progress legislation to make provision about the welfare of certain kept animals that are in, imported into, or exported from Great Britain, in (1) the current, and (2) the next, parliamentary session.

In May 2021 we published the Action Plan for Animal Welfare, which sets out the Government's ambitious programme of legislative and non-legislative measures to further improve our high standards of animal welfare. As a key part of delivering this plan, we introduced the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill in June 2021. The Bill provides enhanced protections for pet, farmed and kept wild animals in Great Britain.

The Bill completed Commons Committee Stage in November. Since introduction, the Government has added a new pet abduction offence to the bill and extended the primates measure to Wales. We have also consulted on the use of powers in the Bill to tackle puppy smuggling. The Government is committed to this Bill and it will progress in its current form as soon as Parliamentary time allows.