Carriers work closely with operational colleagues at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and Border Force, and they are committed to preventing illegal imports of pet animals. Authorised pet checkers are trained by APHA prior to being granted approval and receive annual audits of their checking and processing to ensure they uphold our requirements. APHA regularly reviews its border enforcement work against known travel trends of those that seek to illegally import puppies to the UK, to keep pace with this rapidly evolving criminal activity. Part of this work includes intelligence-led targeting of suspected smugglers, alongside partner agencies, including Border Force. Border Force operates a 24-hour service, seven days per week and alerts APHA to suspected non-compliant dogs and puppies. Targeted intelligence-led work often takes place outside of normal working hours as needed. The Government is satisfied with the workings of these current arrangements.

The Government recognises the importance of pet ownership to many renting in the private rented sector. We have therefore taken steps to make it easier for responsible tenants to keep pets in the private rented sector.

We have revised the national Model Tenancy Agreement, the government’s recommended contract for assured shorthold tenancies in the private rented sector, in order to make it easier for tenants with pets to find private landlords who will accept them. The revision aims to strike the balance between protecting private landlords from situations where their properties are damaged by badly behaved pets and ensuring responsible pet owning tenants are not unfairly penalised.

The Government has not made an assessment of the effectiveness of the revised Model Tenancy Agreement in supporting pet ownership in the private rented sector.

The Government recognises the importance of pet ownership to many renting in the private rented sector. We have therefore taken steps to make it easier for responsible tenants to keep pets in the private rented sector.

We have revised the national Model Tenancy Agreement, the government’s recommended contract for assured shorthold tenancies in the private rented sector, in order to make it easier for tenants with pets to find private landlords who will accept them. The revision aims to strike the balance between protecting private landlords from situations where their properties are damaged by badly behaved pets and ensuring responsible pet owning tenants are not unfairly penalised.

The Government has not made an assessment of the effectiveness of the revised Model Tenancy Agreement in supporting pet ownership in the private rented sector.

As a nation of animal lovers, we understand how important it is for those fleeing Ukraine to bring their pets. We recognise that many pet owners will not have been able to complete the preparations needed, especially in relation to rabies. We need to protect the UK’s public and animal health and that is why pets coming from the Ukraine may need a period of quarantine. All quarantine and relevant health costs will be covered by the UK Government.

We are acting quickly to ensure that everyone who wants to travel with their pet can, and without delay. Pet owners must contact The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to apply for a licence before they travel to the UK. APHA will make all the necessary arrangements and confirm entry dates for when the pet arrives in the UK.

We have been working with stakeholders to increase capacity, and in parallel exploring alternative options with the rescue and rehoming sector, and with licenced boarding kennels and catteries where we have implemented the use of isolation facilities.

We have delivered emergency legislation to authorise the use of a new blood test for rabies, which reduces the timescale for checking immunity, which in respect can free up quarantine spaces. Results can be turned around in a minimum of 3 days and animals may be eligible for home isolation in England if they are found to have rabies antibodies, subject to strict criteria. This will help maintain our strict biosecurity measures and may allow people to be reunited more quickly with their pets.

We continue to work with APHA to streamline the process, and are continuing to provide information in both Ukrainian, Russian and English to those wishing to travel.

We have provided full guidance on GOV.UK for those fleeing Ukraine to bring their pets to the UK. This provides detailed information on the steps that need to be taken to enter the UK. We have included advice on ports of entry and the process once their pet reaches the UK. People fleeing to the UK from Ukraine with pets should contact the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) for a pet licence by email at ukrainepettravel@apha.gov.uk or call +44 3000 200 301 and select option 2.

We recognise the distress pet theft causes and are committed to preventing these cruel crimes

The Home Office does publish data on police recorded theft offences as part of the quarterly ONS ‘Crime in England and Wales’ statistics, but it does not separately identify the number of thefts for dogs and cats.

However, information on the scale of pet theft was gathered as part of the Pet Theft Taskforce, which engaged a number of key organisations and experts in the field to shine a light on the existing evidence.

The evidence included aggregated data from 33 police forces in England and Wales on trends in reported dog thefts since 2015 and is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pet-theft-taskforce-report/pet-theft-taskforce-report.

As part of the taskforce we are working with the police to ensure these thefts are recorded in a consistent way and readily identifiable within forces’ information management systems.

We operate one of the most rigorous and robust pet travel checking regimes in Europe. All non-commercial dogs, cats and ferrets entering Great Britain on approved routes (every route other than Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Crown Dependencies) under the Pet Travel rules undergo 100% documentary and identity checks by authorised pet checkers.

To enter Great Britain pets must have been implanted with a microchip or have a legible tattoo imprinted prior to 3 July 2011. A pet’s identity is checked by ensuring that the microchip or tattoo details correspond to the details in the pet’s documentation, which includes the date of birth of the pet animal. Carriers can refer suspected non-compliances to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), including cases where any dog appears underage. APHA staff are highly trained to deal with intercepted shipments.

APHA works collaboratively with Border Force and other operational partners at ports, airports and inland, sharing intelligence to enforce the Pet Travel rules, disrupt illegal imports, safeguard the welfare of animals and seize non-compliant animals.

The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill was introduced in Parliament on 8 June 2021 and completed committee on 18 November 2021. The Bill allows us to further protect the welfare of pets by introducing restrictions to crack down on the low welfare movements of pets into Great Britain and includes powers to introduce new restrictions on pet travel and the commercial import of pets on welfare grounds, via secondary legislation.

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.

In August 2021, the Government launched an eight-week consultation on our proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain. We are currently analysing the responses to the consultation and will publish a summary in due course. This will allow us to take on board the views of the public and interested groups on puppy smuggling and low welfare imports in order to shape our future policy.

Carriers work closely with operational colleagues at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and Border Force and are committed to preventing illegal imports of pet animals. Authorised pet checkers are trained by APHA prior to being granted approval and receive annual audits of their checking and processing to ensure they uphold our requirements. APHA regularly reviews its border enforcement work against known travel trends of those that seek to illegally import puppies to the UK, to keep pace with this rapidly evolving criminal activity. Part of this work includes intelligence-led targeting of suspected smugglers, alongside partner agencies, including Border Force. Border Force operates a 24-hour service seven days per week and alerts APHA to suspected non-compliant dogs and puppies. Targeted intelligence-led work often takes place outside of normal working hours as needed. The Government is satisfied with the workings of these current arrangements.

We operate one of the most rigorous and robust pet travel checking regimes in Europe. All non-commercial dogs, cats and ferrets entering Great Britain on approved routes (every route other than Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Crown Dependencies) under the Pet Travel rules undergo 100% documentary and identity checks by authorised pet checkers at the point of entry. Carriers can refer suspected non-compliances to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).

Animal welfare legislation requires that when animals are transported their transportation must comply fully with legal requirements aimed at protecting their welfare, such as, they must be fit for the intended journey; transported in the appropriate conditions; and, when transportation is for a commercial purpose, the transporter must hold a GB authorisation. APHA works collaboratively with Border Force and other operational partners at ports, airports and inland, sharing intelligence to enforce the Pet Travel rules, disrupt illegal imports, safeguard the welfare of animals and seize non-compliant animals.

The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill was introduced in Parliament on 8 June 2021 and completed committee on 18 November 2021. The Bill allows us to further protect the welfare of pets by introducing restrictions to crack down on the low welfare movements of pets into Great Britain and includes powers to introduce new restrictions on pet travel and the commercial import of pets on welfare grounds, via secondary legislation. In August 2021, the Government launched an eight-week consultation on our proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets, including rescue pets, into Great Britain. This included proposals to ban the commercial and non-commercial movement into Great Britain of puppies under the age of six months, heavily pregnant dogs and dogs which have been subjected to low welfare practices such as ear cropping or tail docking. We are currently analysing the responses to the consultation and will publish a summary response in due course. This will allow us to take onboard the views of the public and interested groups on puppy smuggling and low welfare imports in order to shape our future policy.

In response to concerns about a perceived increase in pet theft during covid restrictions, the Government set up the Pet Theft Taskforce to investigate. The Taskforce's recommendations included the creation of a new 'pet abduction' offence to recognise that pets are not mere items of property and to recognise the potential impact on their welfare when they are taken by strangers. The Taskforce gathered, researched and commissioned work to build a clear evidence base of the issue and worked with police, law enforcement, and experts to formulate recommendations. Any unintended consequences of introducing a new offence focused on the taking of pets were considered during the Taskforce. The Taskforce also recommended improving the evidence base on pet theft by ensuring cases are recorded in a consistent manner and readily identifiable within police force information management systems, and Defra is currently working with Home Office and Ministry of Justice to implement this recommendation.

The offence as currently drafted and debated at the Commons Committee stage of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill focuses on dogs, with enabling powers. The inclusion of the enabling powers means that the Secretary of State will be able to extend the offence to other species of companion animal in the future by making regulations. Any regulations would be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. This means that both the House of Commons and the House of Lords would need to approve such an extension.

The Government listened closely to views expressed on this issue during Commons Committee stage, in particular whether cats should also be included with dogs at the outset, and the Government is currently considering this issue carefully.

In response to concerns about a perceived increase in pet theft during covid restrictions, the Government set up the Pet Theft Taskforce to investigate. The Taskforce's recommendations included the creation of a new 'pet abduction' offence to recognise that pets are not mere items of property and to recognise the potential impact on their welfare when they are taken by strangers. The Taskforce gathered, researched and commissioned work to build a clear evidence base of the issue and worked with police, law enforcement, and experts to formulate recommendations. Any unintended consequences of introducing a new offence focused on the taking of pets were considered during the Taskforce. The Taskforce also recommended improving the evidence base on pet theft by ensuring cases are recorded in a consistent manner and readily identifiable within police force information management systems, and Defra is currently working with Home Office and Ministry of Justice to implement this recommendation.

The offence as currently drafted and debated at the Commons Committee stage of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill focuses on dogs, with enabling powers. The inclusion of the enabling powers means that the Secretary of State will be able to extend the offence to other species of companion animal in the future by making regulations. Any regulations would be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. This means that both the House of Commons and the House of Lords would need to approve such an extension.

The Government listened closely to views expressed on this issue during Commons Committee stage, in particular whether cats should also be included with dogs at the outset, and the Government is currently considering this issue carefully.

The information that we provide is a true reflection of the information that we have access to.

The data regarding the Pet Travel Scheme covers pets entering Great Britain and is based on information provided by checkers employed by approved carriers of pet animals.

Every month carriers complete and submit spreadsheets detailing their throughput broken down by species, document type, non-compliance data and whether or not it is an assistance animal. This is the data recorded on the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA) system. Where necessary APHA ensures that carriers provide this information in a timely manner.

The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill was introduced in Parliament on 8 June and completed committee on 18 November 2021. The Bill allows us to protect the welfare of pets by introducing restrictions to crack down on the low welfare movements of pets into Great Britain and includes powers to introduce new restrictions on pet travel and the commercial import of pets on welfare grounds, via secondary legislation.

In August 2021, the Government launched an 8-week consultation on our proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain. The consultation proposed to maintain the existing requirements for cats. This is because there is currently limited evidence that there is a significant illegal trade in cats or significant numbers of low welfare movements. Overall, the number of movements of cats into GB is much lower than for dogs.

The consultation sought views on whether this was the right approach. We are currently analysing the responses to the consultation and will publish a summary in due course. This will allow us to take on board the views of the public and interested groups in order to shape our future policy.

We will continue to work closely with stakeholders prior to the introduction of the legislation, to ensure that our final measures are well considered and led by the latest evidence.