No one should be refused access to businesses or services because they legitimately have an assistance dog.

Strong protection already exists in the Equality Act 2010, which places a duty on businesses and service providers to make reasonable adjustments to improve disabled people’s access to goods and services so they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people. This reasonable adjustment duty is an anticipatory duty, meaning that those who provide goods, facilities and services to members of the public are expected to anticipate the reasonable adjustments that disabled customers may require, including auxiliary aids.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is the public body responsible for enforcing the Equality Act. In 2017, the Commission published two pieces of guidance - a guide to help businesses understand what they can do to meet their legal duties to assistance dog owners, and a guide to help tourism businesses welcome people with access requirements. The EHRC supports disabled individuals who have experienced discrimination to take their cases to court.

In recent years, case law has strengthened the equalities law for people with assistance dogs. There have been a number of significant cases brought under the Equality Act involving assistance dogs, which have been successfully litigated, for example, Bloch v Kassim (assistance dogs in taxis); Clutton and Williams v Pen-y-Bryn Group (assistance dogs in restaurants); and McCafferty v Miah (assistance dogs in shops). The Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS), the equalities and human rights helpline, receives about 35,000 customer contacts a year, more than 60% of which concern disability issues. The EASS can intervene directly with or assist the complainant to take the case up with the relevant service provider in many cases, including those involving assistance dogs.

A person who is licensed in England as a seller of pet animals may sell a puppy in England as long as they can satisfy the local authority that they bred the puppy concerned. The ban on commercial third party sales in England is about ensuring the person selling the puppy has actually bred the pet animal. The law on the breeding and selling of dogs is a devolved matter and therefore differs in the rest of the United Kingdom.

The ban on the commercial third party sales of puppies and kittens came into force on 6 April 2020 through the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals)(England)(Amendment) Regulations 2019. From this date, licensed pet sellers in England are only able to sell puppies that they have bred. Licensed pet sellers in England will not be able to sell puppies that they have not bred, regardless of what country they were bred in.

It will be for the local authority responsible for licensing a business to be satisfied that a licence holder has bred the animals they are selling. Defra has updated the statutory guidance on pet selling, and this also covers how to be assured that someone offering a puppy for sale has bred it themselves. The law does not explicitly prohibit sales by someone who is licensed to sell a puppy in England having bred that puppy outside of England. However Defra’s recently launched Petfished campaign provides further guidance for the public on how to source puppies responsibly and this includes signposting to reputable suppliers (like Kennel Club Assured Breeders or licensed breeders) and advising that prospective buyers should always ask to see the puppy interacting with its mother and siblings where it was bred prior to making any purchasing decisions.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), as an executive agency of Defra, delivers Defra’s animal health and welfare and plant health policy, including in the area of illegal dog imports, which was discussed at the Ministerial meeting in question. APHA and Defra colleagues are in continual communication about how to best shape and deliver this important policy area.

Regarding further collaboration between Defra and Border Force, we are taking forward our work to disrupt illegal imports of dogs as part of a wider refresh of our engagement at points of entry. Specifically, this includes APHA working more closely with Border Force to further improve operational processes at port, as well as exploring options for more mutual sharing of intelligence and intelligence led work.

Defra takes the issue of the smuggling of dogs and puppies seriously. It is an abhorrent trade which causes suffering to the smuggled dogs and puts the health of pets and people in the UK at risk. We are working hard to tackle the problem, targeting both the supply and demand of illegally imported dogs. This approach includes enforcement, international engagement, tighter regulation and public communications.

A meeting with the Immigration Minister, specifically to discuss puppy smuggling, was arranged a few weeks ago for mid-June.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) continues to work collaboratively with Border Force at ports and airports, sharing intelligence in order to disrupt illegal imports.

The numbers of dogs that were imported in total and from each country of origin using the Balai Directive in 2018 were as follows:

The total number of dogs imported in 2018 was 20,845.

The breakdown of this figure by country is as follows:

The data for commercial imports covers the number of animals imported into the UK, and was extracted from TRACES through the Qlikview facility by searching for imports of dogs and their commodity codes in 2018 to the UK by country of origin. These figures cover all commercially imported dogs, including commercial puppies, rescue dogs, research dogs and unaccompanied pets.

The information that the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has provided is a true reflection of the information that is held. APHA cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data, as the information has been entered into TRACES by a third party.

194,712 dogs were imported in total via the Pet Travel Scheme in 2018.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is unable to provide a breakdown of the number of dogs travelling under the scheme by country as it does not hold that information.

The data regarding the Pet Travel Scheme is taken from APHA’s system for recording pets’ throughput based on information provided by checkers employed by approved carriers of pet animals.

The information that APHA has provided is a true reflection of the information that is held. APHA cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data, as it can only rely on the information that has been entered into the pets’ returns by a third party.

The number of puppies seized and quarantined at Dover and Folkestone under the Puppy Pilot from 1 October 2017 to 30 April 2018 are as follows:

The Post Implementation Review (PIR) will evaluate the effectiveness of the Non-Commercial Movement of Pet Animals Order 2011. A public consultation was conducted and responses published in June 2017. We are seeking to publish the PIR report before summer recess.

Whilst we remain a member of the EU, we continue to be signed up to the requirements of the Pet Travel Scheme. At present the Government is negotiating our departure from the EU and Defra is looking at future arrangements, including those for the Pet Travel Scheme.

From 1 October 2017 to 31 March 2018, 143 puppies were seized at Dover and Folkestone and placed into quarantine under the Puppy Pilot.