Thanks to the efforts of our supporters, volunteers and staff more than 200 MPs signed up to Early Day Motion 2079. With your help we managed to get the issues discussed at the highest level and it is our hope that this will go some way in getting more local authorities to scan all domestic pets killed on roads.

Many of you have told us that MPs have forwarded requests onto Defra (Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs) for comment. Defra seem to have given a standard response and we would like to take this opportunity to clarify some of the points raised.

The response mentions that it would be virtually impossible for a local authority, or indeed a normal veterinary practice or police station to be stocked with all the microchip readers that they would need to read every possible microchip.

• However, in the UK all the microchips and scanners now sold are compliant with ISO standards meaning that a scanner produced by one manufacturer must be able to read microchips made by all other manufacturers. Only those microchips inserted in animals in just a small minority of countries outside the UK may not be detected by current UK scanners with ISO standards, but most will identify that a microchip is present and an appropriate scanner can then be sourced.

The response also mentions that there is no national database for microchip numbers; at present, most manufacturers run databases only in support of their own product.

• However, as you are probably aware, there are in fact only three databases and there is a single point of telephone contact available 24 hours a day in the UK

Cats Protection is a member of the British Small Animal Veterinary Association's Microchip Advisory Group (MAG), and the Chairman of MAG has written to Defra to offer them access to up to date information.

Many, many thanks again for all your support!

EDM 126 has since been launched to follow on this good work. For more details visit www.edmi.parliament.uk