The Government takes the issue of pet smuggling extremely seriously. Outside the EU, we can manage our own pet travel and commercial importation rules for Great Britain. In relation to Northern Ireland, our proposals set out in the Command Paper recognise that the UK’s high biosecurity standards should form the basis for pet travel, which should operate as it did so successfully before our exit from the EU. The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill was introduced in Parliament on 8 June 2021. The Bill sets out how the Government intends to fulfil its manifesto commitment to crack down on the issue of puppy smuggling and address movements of pets (dogs, cats, and ferrets) which are unacceptable on welfare grounds. The Bill aims to reduce the number of pet dogs, cats and ferrets that can travel to Great Britain (GB) in one non-commercial movement This would prevent unscrupulous traders from exploiting our pet travel rules. It would restrict non-commercial movements of pets to a maximum of five animals per vehicle on ferry and rail routes, and three animals per person for foot passengers or air travellers. The Bill includes a power to introduce further restrictions on the commercial import and non-commercial movement of pets on welfare grounds, via secondary legislation; for example, in the light of views and evidence from the public and key stakeholders or the emergence of new practices which cause concern. In August 2021, the Government launched an 8-week consultation on proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain. These include proposals aimed at raising the minimum age of puppies moved commercially and non-commercially into Britain from 15 weeks to 6 months. Our proposals would also prohibit the movement of cropped and docked dogs and heavily pregnant dogs (defined as those over 42 days pregnant) into Great Britain. We are currently analysing responses to the consultation. We will publish a summary of responses in due course. Our approach 4 Government Response: Moving animals across borders aims to ensure that members of the public are not unduly impacted, while tightening the existing regime and tackling unscrupulous traders. We agree with the Committee that rapid action is needed to address the issues of pet smuggling and low welfare movements of pets. We are working at pace to deliver the necessary secondary legislation alongside the passage of the Bill through Parliament. Work is in hand to ensure compliance with WTO rules. The Government’s approach will help to address known issues quickly including emerging practices, and those circumstances where unscrupulous traders seek to circumvent existing restrictions. Such traders were quick to respond to advice to prospective pet owners about seeing a puppy with its mother prior to purchasing, by starting to import heavily pregnant females. This was a relatively new trend identified by the Animal and Plant Health Agency following the introduction of Lucy’s Law in April 2020. Between January 2020 and May 2021, 31 heavily pregnant dams were detained. In our consultation, we set out our proposal to introduce a ban the movement of dogs which are more than 42 days pregnant. The ability to make such changes in future will be key to maintaining a robust system of regulation.