The LAIA regulations require that the Secretary of State periodically reviews, and reports on, the regulation to determine if the original published objectives have been achieved, that they remain appropriate and if they do remain appropriate could they now be achieved in another way which involves a less onerous regulatory provision. These are the minimum requirements of a review.

The first review must be completed before 1^st October 2023 and subsequently at a maximum interval of 5 years.

The Companion Animal Sector Council (CASC) will be carrying out a review of the regulations and guidance, where they are relevant to companion animals prior to submitting a report to DEFRA detailing our findings and recommendations.

As part of this process we are inviting any stakeholder to provide their experiences and opinions so that we can develop a detailed and accurate picture of the impact of the regulations and stakeholders’ proposals for ways that they could be improved. A stakeholder might be:

• An individual or business who sells live animals as pets commercially
• An individual or business who keeps or trains animals for exhibition (school visits, parties, handling sessions, etc.)
• A Local Authority employee who acts an inspector or administrator of the regulations
• A vet or other professional who acts and an inspector or advisor to a Local Authority in relation to the regulations
• Any individual or business who is not currently licensed but may become licensed in the future
• Any individual or business who is not licensed but would like to provide an opinion on the provision, scope or impact of the regulations.  This might include pet owners, hobby breeders, animal rescue or rehoming organisations/charities/individuals or anyone else who is involved in the field of companion animals.

We welcome input from as many sources as possible so that we can develop an accurate picture.

You can provide your opinions by completing our online survey here.  This allows different stakeholders to provide information relating directly to their own areas, as well as providing opportunities for wider comments.  This is a detailed survey and will take between 10 and 15 minutes to complete.  We urge all stakeholders within the companion animal (pet) sector to take the time to complete the survey so that their views are recorded and reported to DEFRA. Government will only act on evidenced information and so it is essential that you provide your thoughts, opinions and experiences.  If you don’t take this opportunity then there will not another for a further 5 years.

The survey will be open until Monday 21^st November 2022

As you may be aware, Defra is currently undertaking a review of the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (LAIA regulations) as part of the post implementation review of the regulations. They have released the following information and are seeking the input from stakeholders:

“We are keen to ensure that the views of our stakeholders are considered in this process. We are inviting your organisation to provide views on the regulations by filling in any of the below surveys that are relevant to you. If you are an industry representative, we would be grateful if you could share the surveys with your members/network. If you are a local authority, we would be grateful if you could share the surveys with LAIA licensed businesses within your network. We would be grateful if you could refrain from posting these surveys on social media.

Please note that filling in a survey is voluntary, and you are under no obligation to respond. You may also fill in more than one survey if relevant to you. The surveys will be open for four weeks, closing at 11:45pm on Monday 31^st October. Each survey will take approximately 40 to 60 minutes, depending on the detail of your response.

The LAIA regulations came into force in 2018. We are currently undertaking a post-implementation review to assess the effectiveness of the regulations. We will be gathering evidence from various sources and the views of stakeholders to help us assess whether the regulations have met their objectives, identify opportunities for reducing burdens on business and propose refinements if required.  

Could respondents please review the attached Privacy Notice before proceeding with the survey. By proceeding with the below survey, you are consenting to participate in this social research, as it is described in the Privacy Notice.

Please find the surveys below:

Schedule 7 – keeping or training animals for exhibition: https://defragroup.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7UrqZSivc4QKD3g

Schedule 5- hiring out horses: https://defragroup.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8BRQWme5Mj0Hugm

Schedule 4- specific conditions for providing boarding for cats or dogs: https://defragroup.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_899TBGb5an09tAO

Schedule 3- selling animals as pets: https://defragroup.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cvjcTRtacMqXNMa

Schedule 1, parts 1 & 5 and Schedule 6- (specific conditions) regarding the breeding of dogs: https://defragroup.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2lOE4l96f1g7Gd0

For further information on the survey please email AnimalActivitiesLicensing@defra.gov.uk.

Thank you for your participation in this exercise, your feedback is highly appreciated. “

DEFRA have refreshed the guidance notes for licensable activities regulated under Licensing of Activities Involving Animals (LAIA) regulations. These include; Cat Boarding, Day Care for Dogs, Dog Breeding, Hiring out Horses, Home Boarding, Keeping or training animals for exhibition, Kennel boarding, Selling animals as pets and the procedural guidance for LA’s.
The changes are relatively minor, being limited to clarifying the guidance and correcting inconstancies and errors, but the notes will be re-formatted to comply with the latest .gov standards and so will look quite different when published. You can view the unformatted text for the guidance notes prior to their formal release on the 1st February 2022 here. This will enable businesses to prepare for the changes prior to the implementation date.

The FSA has issued a recall notice for some frozen rodents sold as animal feed. More details can be found at www.casc.org/rodent-recall

Following a meeting with DEFRA, CASC has been asked to gather feedback on the application of the new Animal Activities regulations that came into effect on the 1st October 2018, and provide feedback to DEFRA on its current performance and possible enhancements.

On the 25th October the Government published a call for evidence to assist with the development of legislation relating to the private ownership of Primates. CASC has formed a working group, chaired by Dr Peter Kettlewell, to gather evidence and present clear and concise recommendations to assist with the development of proportionate legislation.

At a meeting on the 18th July, hosted by Lord Trees, attendees were consulted on the way forward for CASC. This resulted in an updated structure for the group and make it even more successful as source of unbiased, fact based advice for Government.