Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Giles Watling (Conservative) on Thursday, 31 January 2019, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 4 February 2019. It was answered by David Rutley (Conservative) on Thursday, 7 February 2019 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Dogs: Animal Breeding

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many licensed dog breeders there are in the (a) UK and (b) Clacton constituency.

Answer

The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 came into force on 1 October 2018. These regulations replace outdated Acts, and are based on modern welfare standards. The Regulations include a requirement for local authorities to submit data to Defra each year on the number of licences in force for each licensable activity. The first submission will be required to be submitted to Defra by 31 May 2019 covering the period October 2018 to March 2019 inclusive. Therefore, the Department does not currently hold data on the number of licensed dog breeders under these regulations. Under the previous legislation, there were an estimated 4,950 licensed dog breeders in England.

Breeders of animals other than dogs are not subject to licensing requirements, unless they are in the business of selling the animals as pets. Under the previous legislation there were an estimated 2,300 licensed pet sellers in England, but this includes sellers that do not breed the animals themselves.

Defra does not hold data on the whole of the UK or for individual Parliamentary constituencies. This information is held by Local Authorities.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
215236
Session
2017-19
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Animal breeding Licensing Dogs
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk