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The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Mr John Hayes)
It is a delight to serve under your stewardship, Mr Rosindell, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Halton (Derek Twigg) on securing the debate. I think that I am right in saying that it was 10 years ago this month, Mr Rosindell, that the late Lady Thatcher visited Romford and met Buster, your beloved dog, in his St George’s cross coat. What more fitting time to serve under your chairmanship than in this important debate?
Affection takes many forms. Homes are bound by ties, and the love that in families dwells is, in my judgment, enhanced and embellished—no, more that that: deepened—by the affection felt for domestic animals. The atmosphere engendered by pets in any home and the mood they generate changes families and changes life. They teach us to regard what God made in a different way; they challenge our certainties; they oblige sensitivity in all but the most inane; and they soften all but the hardest of hearts. As all hon. Members who have contributed to the debate have said, it a matter of uncertainty whether we own them or they own us. One of my favourite poets, T. S. Eliot, said:
“When a cat adopts you there is nothing to be done about it except put up with it until the wind changes.”
When we are adopted by our pets, we understand that affection—that deepening love.
It is in that context that we come to this debate, which was stimulated by the response of the Backbench Business Committee to a campaign that was being run on the basis of the loss of a much loved pet. I am delighted that so many hon. Members have contributed to the debate and that others from that campaign are here to witness it.
People’s distress after the loss of a pet has been made absolutely clear in contributions from throughout the Chamber, as the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Richard Burden), said, including from my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Central and Acton (Angie Bray), the right hon. Member for Knowsley (Mr Howarth), my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Jason McCartney), the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne), my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Andrew Stephenson) and others.
It is important that I pay due regard to those contributions by setting out the circumstances that have led to the debate and underpin what has happened so far. As the Opposition spokesman said, the Highways Agency network management manual of 2009 sets out procedures for notifying owners of dogs that are killed on the strategic road network for a number of Highways Agency contracts in various parts of the country. Those contracts are being phased out and replaced with asset support contracts, which are underpinned by a new type of technical requirement: the asset maintenance and operational requirements. The document relating to those requirements details certain points to which our regional asset support contract service providers must adhere.
Requirements are outcome-based as far as possible and require the service providers to take risk-based, intelligence-led approaches to optimise their delivery. That has led to a change in the approach to dealing with canine fatalities across the strategic road network, as the replacement contract maximises efficiency. As has been made clear, new contracts no longer mandate that canine fatalities are scanned or identified, or that the owners are contacted. I know that the current position must be hugely disappointing for all animal lovers and pet owners alike.
I should like to clarify details of the statement made in response to the Harvey’s law e-petition upon its reaching 10,000 signatures, which described the standards set out in the network management manual. In my judgment that response was unclear, because it did not accurately reflect the Highways Agency’s changing approach to dealing with these fatalities. As soon as I heard about that, I asked for an urgent review. It is regrettable that that was not properly explained. So, I should like to clarify that the new contract was in operation in the area where Harvey the dog was collected. With regard to that sad occurrence, I understand that Harvey escaped when staying with the owners’ friends, which must have been heartbreaking for all involved.
Although the agency’s previous mandatory policy for dealing with canine fatalities is as I have described, it is still the contractor’s responsibility to follow their own processes and procedures. In this case, the contractor collected Harvey’s remains and transported them to a depot. A dog collar was located, but no tags were attached that could have enabled contact to be made with the owner. A scanner was used to attempt to locate a microchip, but sadly this was unsuccessful. The north-west motorway police group was asked whether any dogs had been reported as missing, but a negative response was received. Harvey was cremated and the ashes scattered in the cemetery.
Some weeks later, a Highways Agency traffic officer involved in collecting a dog from the carriageway came across a missing dog poster at a motorway service area and kindly contacted the owner to inform them of what had happened.
Not only are Highways Agency staff put at risk when trying to retrieve animals to reunite them with their owners, but any animal that escapes on to the network is a problem for drivers, who will take evasive action, which may result in a traffic collision involving potential casualties. It is important to note that due to the high speeds on the strategic road network, there is always a risk that a disc, microchip or other identifying mark will be lost in an incident. Because of the severity of accidents and the speeds involved, it is impossible to guarantee that remains can be fully identified in all cases.
The priority of Highways Agency traffic officers is to ensure safe journeys for road users. Nevertheless, when officers attend incidents involving stray or carried animals involved in collisions, they must deal with such incidents humanely and with compassion. Such incidents are distressing for all concerned. With the agency’s forthcoming transformation to Highways England and the surety of the funding and increased investment detailed in the roads investment strategy, there is an opportunity to focus more on the service that the agency delivers to its customers.
Natascha Engel
All we are asking for is that anyone who finds a dead animal passes the scanner over it to see whether it is chipped. It is a straightforward procedure; there is nothing complicated about it. The Minister is making it sound like it is enormously complicated, but it is not.
Mr Hayes
I am coming to my exciting peroration, and the hon. Lady will, I hope, be pleased with what I have to say. Although it is not possible to identify all animals or pets that are very badly injured or killed in high-speed accidents, it is absolutely essential that every possible and practical measure is taken to identify them and to contact their owners whenever and wherever possible. That involves working with relevant pet registration organisations, including the Kennel Club, and using any means by which the animal might be identified. As the hon. Member for Halton said, that aligns well with the amendment to the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which will make it compulsory to microchip all dogs from April 2016. As he argued, it would be ironic and contradictory not to rethink the practice highlighted by the campaign that followed Harvey’s death. I have therefore asked the Highways Agency to ensure that it collects and identifies every animal that is killed and to contact the owners by whatever practicable means, but I want to go further than that.
Rosie Cooper
I have listened carefully to the Minister, and it could be my hearing aid and my inability to hear clearly, but I thought I heard him say that he would “ask” the Highways Agency to do that work. I think most people want to hear him say that he will require the agency to do it.
Mr Hayes
The hon. Lady has known me for a number of years, and we have worked together on a number of campaigns. She knows that when I say “ask”, I mean “order”. I have told the Highways Agency that I expect it to do this work. It will be a requirement; it is what will happen. That is how I operate as a Minister, as she knows. I am surprised she doubted me, given our long-standing friendship. [Interruption.] I agree that it is important to put that on the record.
The shadow Minister was right to ask whether the process will be mandatory. I will tell him exactly what it will be; mandatory requirements for identifying and recording domestic animals will be included in the documents for the tenders for new contracts. That applies to Cornwall and Devon, Kent, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, parts of Warwickshire, Rutland, parts of Oxfordshire, Yorkshire and Humberside, Cumbria and parts of Lancashire, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham and North Yorkshire. Most of those tenders were issued at the end of February or will be issued in March. Some of the tenders will be issued a little later, as the contracts expire.
I want to go further, however. For those contracts that have already been issued—in Somerset, Avon, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Dorset, Wiltshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, parts of Suffolk, the west midlands, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, parts of Gloucestershire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and parts of Lancashire—I have asked for urgent investigation to retrofit mandatory requirements on identifying and recording domestic animals found on the strategic road network. We will commence that process immediately this spring and bring it into operation as soon as we can, following the re-discussion of those contracts. I want the identification and recording to be mandatory, and it will be.
Derek Twigg
I assume that the Minister will be bringing in the legislation shortly, but let us be clear: we are about to have a general election, when Parliament will be dissolved. In asking for this process to be done, has he set a time limit?
Mr Hayes
I have said that the process will begin straight away, but it is helpful that the hon. Gentleman posed that question, because I am more than happy, following this debate, to write to all the Members who have contributed—I should perhaps put a copy of the letter in the Library of the House—setting out a timetable for the implementation of the commitment I have made today. That would be a fair and reasonable thing to do in response to the debate, to assure those who have been waging this campaign of the absolute certainty of the commitments I have offered. Notwithstanding the hon. Gentleman’s integrity, of which I have no doubt, it is important that I do that before the general election, because I am currently the Minister responsible for this area, and elections are funny old things. We will ensure that the measure is set in stone.
The even better news for those of us who are cat owners is that I want to ensure that where cats are involved in accidents, owners can be confident that we will endeavour to ensure that they are identified. Cats often have means of identification, so where a cat can reasonably be identified, its owner should be contacted in the same way. That is made more complicated—I do not want to be insensitive—by the fact that cats sometimes suffer in high-speed accidents the kind of injury that makes it difficult to identify them, but that will not stop us. We will use every possible endeavour and every practical means to identify cat owners.
Andrew Gwynne
Having lost one to the road, I thank the Minister for extending the commitment beyond dogs to cats. Will he recognise that although it is not compulsory—nor will it be compulsory—many responsible cat owners microchip their pets?
Mr Hayes
Yes, that is true, and it should make the commitment I have given easier to deliver. We will ensure that facilities are in place across the country to scan animals that are unhappily in the circumstances I have set out.
The Government take this matter extremely seriously. As soon as I heard about the case, I realised that the circumstance in which Harvey died was just not acceptable, for the reasons I gave at the outset. If we are made more human by the love of a pet, we need to understand that when a pet is lost and its fate is uncertain—my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge (Margot James) made this point wonderfully—that eats at the hearts of all those involved. To paraphrase Dickens, what greater gift can there be than the love of a cat or dog?
Richard Burden
I am not going to try to match the Minister’s quotations, but, for the benefit of those following the debate, I want to get absolutely clear the commitments that have been given. Would I be right in thinking that there are three? First, that new contracts will make scanning mandatory, with no delay, and so will not be preceded by a review—
Richard Burden
Secondly, that a review will apply to existing contracts and the Minister will write to all Members present with a timetable, which will be placed in the House of Commons Library; and thirdly, that the requirements will be extended to cats. Will the Minister give some idea of the timetable for that final commitment?
Mr Hayes
I could not have summarised my own argument better than the shadow Minister has just done. Those are indeed the commitments. In the note that I will circulate on the contracts, it would be helpful for me to say a word about cats and the practicable means of contacting owners. I take the point that cats are often microchipped. As I was saying, that helps because of the availability of scanners and the fact that, as has been said in the debate, the straightforward business of locating and collecting animals in places where they can be scanned should mean that owners can be contacted wherever possible.
Mr George Howarth
I am grateful to the Minister for his constructive approach to the debate. Is his argument that legislation is unnecessary because his ministerial scope enables him to make the necessary changes through the contracts? Would it be more effective to ensure the mandate that he is giving by putting it into statute?
Mr Hayes
The right hon. Gentleman is an experienced Member of the House. He will know that a mandatory contract is what it says it is: mandatory. We must act immediately; I want no further delay. As the shadow Minister said, there is no need for a protracted review. The matter is straightforward, and the last thing I want is to have to wait for a legislative vehicle so that we can amend the law. We have an election coming and would have to wait for the Queen’s Speech; the right hon. Member for Knowsley will know, as will other experienced Members, that that business could become protracted, even for such a relatively straightforward measure. I just want to get on with it. The shadow Minister asked, perfectly properly, whether the changes would be mandatory, and the answer is yes.
[Mr Philip Hollobone in the Chair]
Angie Bray
It is a pleasure to hear my right hon. Friend the Minister responding so positively to everything that has been said this afternoon. He will be aware that some of us who represent London constituencies might have to discuss the issue with City Hall, because, rather than the Highways Agency, Transport for London is responsible for some of the main roads that go through the capital. Has my right hon. Friend had any discussions with Transport for London? Are there useful discussions to be had about the Government’s approach to the issue? What does he recommend that those of us who represent London constituencies do to ensure that pets and owners are treated with the respect that they deserve?
Mr Hayes
With her usual perspicacity, my hon. Friend anticipates the final commitment that I wish to offer. The Highways Agency is of course responsible for large roads—the key arterial routes—but it is my estimation that the majority of fatalities among cats and dogs are on local roads. The Highways Agency looks after our motorways and major trunk roads, but I believe that we can go further. Following this debate, I intend not only to communicate with Transport for London but to write to all local highways authorities throughout the country to draw their attention to the Government’s position and invite them to reflect on their own local policy. That would not only take us back to where we were in respect of the mandatory obligation to collect, record and notify owners; it would take us further than we have ever been if we were able to bring about a circumstance whereby we were doing the right thing on roads throughout the country.
I was describing Dickens’ claim that there is no greater love than the love of a cat or dog, which brings me, finally, to Hemingway. He is not one of my favourite writers—that might be for political reasons—but he did sum up what I said at the start of this debate about why animals have the effect on us that they do. He was speaking of cats, but he might well have been speaking of dogs too, when he said:
“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not”,
and dogs do not either. Today, Members have not hidden their feelings, and neither should they have. I am a Minister who never hides my feelings.
Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)
It is my great misfortune to have missed most of this debate, but I need not fear, because Mr Derek Twigg is going to sum it all up in the next few minutes.