I have received a number of emails regarding the Fur trade.

The government is committed to upholding high animal welfare standards. The Action Plan for animal welfare sets out the Government's vision to introduce a range of reforms to improve the welfare and conservation of animals.

I appreciate that there is considerable support for banning all imports of fur products. I am also aware that the Government sought views on animal welfare through a call for evidence in which 30,000 responses were received from businesses, representative bodies and individuals. While it is not legal for fur to be farmed in the UK, it is still possible to import and sell other types of fur from abroad.

I know that officials from Defra have been analysing the responses received from the call for evidence and have also engaged directly with stakeholders. I look forward to reading more information about this in due course. In addition, Defra continues to build its evidence base on the fur sector, which will be used to inform any future action on the fur trade.