Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in addressing acts of animal sexual abuse, including non-penetrative and coercive activity; and, for each of the past five years, how many cases of potential animal sexual abuse were reported to the police, how many resulted in a charge, and how many led to a successful prosecution.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The number of offences of intercourse with an animal recorded by police each year since 2020 varies from 40 to 57. Specifically, police recorded 40 of these crimes in 2020, 48 in 2021, 49 in 2022, 57 in 2023, 51 in 2024, 54 in the year up to June 2024 and 42 in the year up to June 2025. The proportion of recorded cases that resulted in a charge or summons varied from 20% to 2%.

The Home Office do not hold information on non-penetrative or coercive activity against animals.

The court proceedings database shows that the number of individuals proceeded against by criminal courts where the offence of intercourse with an animal was the principal offence was 4 in the year to June 2021, 1 in the years to June 2022, 2023 and 2024, and 0 in the year to June 2025.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in the implementation of the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023, and when they plan to lay secondary legislation under that Act.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Animals (Low Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 provides a framework for the introduction of future bans on the advertising and offering for sale, in England and Northern Ireland, of low-welfare animal activities abroad.

We continue to engage with stakeholders including the tourism industry and animal welfare groups to explore both legislative and non-legislative options to stop the advertising of low-welfare animal activities abroad and will be setting out next steps in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the annual revenue earned in the UK by global technology platforms from fraudulent advertising.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics.

Under the Online Safety Act, the largest social media and search services will soon be required to address fraudulent adverts on their platforms. Ofcom are due to consult on these duties next year.

Companies in the sector are also working with the government through the Online Advertising Taskforce, to enhance voluntarily initiatives to tackle the drivers of illegal advertising.