The Government remains committed to animal welfare and will introduce the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation. With the proroguing and dissolution of Parliament ahead of the July general election, all business in the House of Commons came to an end and bills which had not received Royal Assent fell. This was the case with Private Members’ Bills which included measures originally included in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill. The following Acts received Royal Assent during the last Parliamentary session and have either come into force or will soon. The Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Act came into force on 22 July 2024. The Act prohibits the export of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and horses for slaughter and fattening from Great Britain, stopping stress, exhaustion and injury caused by this unnecessary trade. The Animal Welfare (Primate Licences) (England) Regulations 2024 were signed into law on 5 March 2024 and will come into effect on 6 April 2026. The Regulations introduce a licensing scheme, setting strict rules to ensure that only private keepers who can provide zoo-level welfare standards, will be able to keep primates. The Pet Abduction Act came into force on 24 August 2024 and makes it an offence to abduct a cat or dog in England and Northern Ireland. Defra maintains a close working relationship with the zoo sector, and we will continue to build upon this to identify possible further improvements. We aim to publish updated zoo standards shortly, which we have developed in collaboration with the sector and the Zoos Expert Committee, which will raise standards and support enforcement. The Government also recognises the distress livestock worrying can cause animals and their keepers. We have committed to support a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Aphra Brandreth MP, which introduces new measures to tackle the serious issue of livestock worrying. The Bill will modernise the definitions and scope, strengthen police powers to improve enforcement and increase the maximum penalty to an unlimited fine to act as a deterrent. As outlined in our manifesto, we are committed to ending puppy smuggling. The Government recently announced its support for the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Dr Danny Chambers MP. The Bill will close loopholes in the non-commercial pet travel rules that are abused by unscrupulous traders and give the government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom. We are fully supportive of this Bill and would like to see it pass through both Houses as soon as Parliamentary time allows. As also outlined in our manifesto, we will end the use of snare traps. We are considering the most effective way to deliver this commitment and will be setting out next steps in due course. Recommendation 2: The litter licensing threshold for dog breeding should be reduced from three to two per 12-month period. A list of all licensed sellers should be publicly available, which would allow for verification and provide assurance to buyers. Care should be taken to ensure that future legislative changes to the breeding framework do not discourage groups such as families from breeding from a much-loved pet, or hinder farmers and gamekeepers from being able to produce the next generations of working dogs.