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<p>The UK Government is delivering a series of ambitious reforms, as outlined in the
Action Plan for Animal Welfare. We are actively exploring options to phase out the
use of cages in farming, including the use of cages for laying hens. In coming to
an assessment of the potential merits of banning cages for laying hens we will wish
to consult all interested organisations.</p><p>Animal welfare is a devolved issue
and we continue to work closely with our devolved counterparts when considering future
policy.</p><p>The EU Commission announced its intention to bring forward legislative
proposals by 2023 to prohibit the use of cages for all farmed livestock, including
colony cages for laying hens. The Commission’s stated aim is to introduce legislation
in 2027, but under pressure from some Member States we anticipate the phase in period
for banning enriched cages may be several years. The EU’s programme of work will address
many issues which we are already looking at, for example, cages for farmed animals
and long journeys.</p><p>The UK Government has made a clear manifesto commitment that
in all of our trade negotiations we will not compromise on our high environmental
protection, animal welfare and food standards. We will need to consider trade aspects
of any ban to avoid the risk of exporting production of eggs for catering/processing
to third countries which continue to allow enriched cages.</p><p>We are establishing
an Animal Health and Welfare Pathway as an all-encompassing approach to the health
and welfare of farmed animals in England. Establishing a new partnership between Government and
farmers, the Pathway maps out how farmers and Government will work together to continually improve the
health and welfare of farmed animals now and in the future. Farmers will be able to
choose whether to take part in Pathway and may take flexible routes through the schemes
available depending on what is most relevant to them and their system. As set out
in the <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fanimal-health-and-welfare-pathway%2Fanimal-health-and-welfare-pathway&data=04%7C01%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7Cc5fc01200f4642450f5c08da0cb3ff37%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C637836264458317072%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=frTPF3csCs4L1cS1BV%2F1qw8rIdZ8qFTvIOmd6U6e7pA%3D&reserved=0"
target="_blank">22 <sup>nd</sup> February publication </a>on the Animal Health and
Welfare Pathway, one of the Pathway's priorities will be to support a transition away
from enriched cages for laying hens. At this stage, there has been no decision on
allocation of funding.</p><p> </p>
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