I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information, please:
1. If you do not already publish this information publicly and in an up-to-date format, please could you confirm how many dog breeding businesses your local authority currently licences (as of today’s date) pursuant to the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018?
2. Please provide a breakdown by licence of the number of 1. breeding female adult dogs, 2. breeding male adult dogs, 3. litters of puppies (please indicate the number permitted at any one time and/or within a twelve-month period) 4. other (non-breeding) dogs specified on each dog breeding licence and, 5. the star rating and 6. expiry date of each dog breeding licence currently in effect (please provide this information in the format shown below):
3. If you do not already publish this information publicly and in an up-to-date format, please could you confirm how many licensed pet sellers your local authority currently licences (as of today’s date) pursuant to the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018?
4. With reference to your response to question 3, how many licensed pet sellers are currently permitted to sell:
a. Puppies/Dogs
b. Kittens/Cats
c. Rabbits
5. With reference to your response to question 4, please provide a breakdown by licence of the number of 1. puppies/dogs, 2. kittens/cats and, 3. rabbits specified on each licence and, 4. the star rating and, 5. expiry date of each licence currently in effect (please provide this information in the format shown below):
6. Since the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 came into effect a. how many applications has your council received for a licence to sell cats, and b. how many of these were granted?
7. If any applicant was not granted a licence, what were the reasons and how many were declined for each reason? (Please specify all that apply):
• Concerns about animal welfare
• Unsuitable premises
• Application withdrawn
• Not within council area
• Didn’t meet threshold for a licence
• Application incomplete
• Other – please specify
8. Please indicate which of the following statements apply by ticking yes or no for each statement and stating the number of licences.
If this request exceeds cost of compliance limits, please refine the request to questions 1-5. If the request still falls outside of cost limits, please advise how I may refine my request to ensure it fits within the scope of the Act.