To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criteria his Department uses to determine whether trading in animals as pets constitutes a business for the purposes of section 7(1) of the Pet Animals Act 1951. (303224)

This Department does not use any criteria—it is the responsibility of the appropriate local authority to consider all the relevant factors relating to each individual case. Factors to be considered would include the number of animals being sold and the potential value of sales.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what definition his Department uses of too early an age for the purposes of regulating the sale of primates from the (a) cebus, (b) callithrix, (c) saimin and (d) saguinus species under the Pet Animals Act 1951; and what methodology his Department used to determine such ages. (303225)

The Department does not define too early an age. When determining whether to grant a licence for a pet shop, local authorities must have regard to the need for ensuring that no mammal will be sold at too early an age. Local authorities should be making such decisions based on advice from professional people such as appropriate veterinary surgeons or other suitable experts.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the answer of 15 July 2009, Official Report, column 388W, on primates, what steps the Government is taking to end the trade in primates as pets. (303226)

The Government have no plans to end the trade in primates as pets.