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Animal Breeding: Convictions

Asked by Jim ShannonDemocratic Unionist PartyMinistry of JusticeTabled Answered 14 February 2025UIN 28926

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an estimate of the number of people convicted for offences related to puppy farming in the last 12 months.

Answered by Sir Nicholas Dakin

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on offenders convicted for animal cruelty offences in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.

However, data held centrally does not include information on whether defendants were convicted for offences related to puppy farming.


This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.

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