Thank you for contacting me about the welfare of farm animals.
You may be pleased to hear that my Ministerial colleagues are examining the evidence around the use of cages for farm animals and are considering the options. They have also committed to continuing to focus on maintaining world-leading farm animal welfare standards through both regulatory requirements and statutory codes.
Ministers have been clear that it is their ambition for farrowing crates to no longer be used for sows. Indeed, the new pig welfare code clearly states that “the aim is for farrowing crates to no longer be necessary and for any new system to protect the welfare of the sow, as well as her piglets.” It is important that we make progress towards a system that both works commercially and safeguards the welfare of the sow and her piglets, and that we do so as quickly as possible. I am pleased to confirm the UK is already ahead of most pig producing countries in terms of non-confinement farrowing, with around 40 per cent of our pigs housed outside and not farrowed with crates.
The Government is also examining the future use of cages for all laying hens and I welcome the commitment from our major retailers, with positive support from our egg producers, to stop retailing eggs from enriched colony cage production systems by 2025. I am pleased that the UK already has a much larger free-range sector by far than any EU country, with over 50 per cent of our hens kept in free range systems.
I know that this Government has set itself a challenging agenda of animal welfare issues that it will tackle and is taking action on many fronts to improve the health and wellbeing of farm animals. I welcome that the UK Government is currently looking into ending the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening in England and Wales. This forms part of a renewed push by the UK Government to strengthen the UK’s position as a world leader on animal welfare.
That said, you may be aware animal welfare is a devolved issue to the Welsh Parliament so it would be a matter for Ministers in Wales to ban farrowing crates in line with the ambitions of the 10 Minute Rule Bill Proposed by Sir David Amess.
My colleagues in the Welsh Parliament are also fully committed to supporting welfare-friendly farming and have campaigned vigorously for the introduction of measures such as mandatory CCTV in Welsh abattoirs.
I hope this update is helpful.