Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Cat Breeding: Regulation

Thursday 6 February 2025 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Mr Peter Bedford asked why regulations on animal breeding focus on dogs and not cats, and the Minister acknowledged the need to update regulations for cat breeding.
  • Bell Ribeiro-Addy inquired about the lack of legal requirements for reporting incidents involving cats hit on roads, despite the previous Government's agreement to include cats in the Road Safety Act.
  • The Minister noted that enforcing such regulations for cats could be challenging in practice.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Peter Bedford Con Mid Leicestershire
Agriculture & Rural Affairs
Context

The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) Regulations 2018 require licences for dog breeding businesses but do not explicitly cover cats.

Question

Why has the 2018 regulations on animal breeding focused merely on dogs and not cat breeding? Can the Minister assure me that he will look at updating the regulations to include cats?

Answer from The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Daniel Zeichner)

Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) Regulations 2018, anyone in the business of breeding and selling cats as pets needs a valid licence from their local authority. The Minister acknowledges that there is room for updating regulations to address current feline breeding practices based on the recommendations from the Animal Welfare Committee.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The MP asked for a specific commitment to update regulations, but the Minister did not provide an exact timeline or detailed plan.

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Q2 Bell Ribeiro-Addy Lab Clapham and Brixton Hill
Environment
Context

There are 12.5 million cat owners in the UK, with hundreds of thousands of cats killed annually by vehicles.

Question

Given that there are 12.5 million cat owners and hundreds of thousands of cats killed every year, why hasn't the previous Government's agreement to include cats in the Road Safety Act been implemented? This means that cats are often hit without any legal requirement for reporting.

Answer from Daniel Zeichner

While this issue has been widely discussed, our advice suggests it would be difficult to enforce in practice. However, we recognise the distress and concern caused by these incidents.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The MP asked for a commitment regarding road safety legislation for cats, but the Minister did not commit to specific action or policy changes.

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