Animal Welfare: Penalties Debate
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Baroness Parminter
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Animal Welfare: Penalties
Baroness Parminter Excerpts(7 years, 11 months ago)
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Baroness Parminter
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to increase the penalties for animal welfare offences.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Gardiner of Kimble) (Con)
My Lords, while there are no current proposals to increase the maximum penalties for animal welfare offences, the Government want to see courts use the range of penalties available. We will continue to keep the maximum penalties for animal welfare offences under review.
Baroness Parminter (LD)
I thank the Minister for that reply. The maximum sentence available for extreme and premeditated cruelty is six months. We lag behind the rest of mainland Europe and Northern Ireland, whose maximum sentence is five years. Given that the EFRA Select Committee has now recommended a rise to five years, is it not time that the sentence matched the crime?