Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of sentencing outcomes under the Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Act 2019 for violent attacks against police and emergency service animals.

Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Sentencing decisions in individual cases are a matter for the independent judiciary, taking into account the circumstances of the offence and the offender, including any particular aggravating or mitigating factors.

In July 2023, updated sentencing guidelines for animal cruelty offences came into effect, taking into account the increased maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment introduced in 2021. Sentencing guidelines are developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, which also monitors and evaluates all definitive guidelines, as per its statutory duty to do so.  We have no current plans to request that the Council review guidelines in this area.