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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the draft Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023, what consideration they have given to the issues surrounding the data privacy of cat owners in relation to that legislation.

The draft Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023 will require cat keepers to register their details with a database operator which holds itself out as compliant with these Regulations. These operators are all commercial enterprises independent of Government and they have a duty to comply with data protection requirements.