Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023

Debate between Lord Black of Brentwood and Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent

Wednesday 19th April 2023 Grand Committee

[Lord Black of Brentwood (Con)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a patron of International Cat Care. I warmly welcome these regulations and the Government’s action in this area. Over the years, I have had the pleasure of working with Cats Protection, which has campaigned vigorously on this issue and deserves great credit for sticking to it—and many other charities—to achieve this important change in the law.

I am the proud owner of a microchipped rescue cat but, as my noble friend said, 25% of owned cats in the UK are not microchipped, leading to huge problems with stray cats, many of which end up being rehomed needlessly when they get lost. It would also help, as the noble Lord, Lord Trees, said, with those tragic occasions when cats are run down or grievously injured in some other way, giving owners much anguish, as they worry about the fate of a beloved pet. Microchipping would help enormously with that.

One other point that I would like to make on that theme is that, as the noble Baroness said, there is a cost to microchipping, which may be an added burden for many struggling with bills at this time. I am delighted that, from this summer, Cats Protection will expand its subsidised scheme to assist people on low incomes to get their cats neutered and microchipped. That will go some way to dealing with some of the issues that the noble Baroness rightly raised.

In the world of animal welfare, there is always another challenge, and I agree with my noble friend that it is time that we had another debate on cats and dogs and other domestic animals—it has been a few years now. This important hurdle having been crossed, we still have the issue of pet smuggling and pet theft to deal with, as the noble Baroness said. I hope that it will not be too long before we see the return of the kept animals Bill, which will deal with some of those issues. I wonder whether my noble friend could very kindly give us an update on that.

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for providing an overview of this very important statutory instrument and also thank his team for the helpful briefing that it provided.

The issue of microchipping cats has been widely consulted on, and these regulations are, of course, supported by His Majesty’s Opposition. Let us be clear why we are here today: one-quarter of all owned cats are not currently microchipped, which compares unfavourably to their canine friends, as only 10% of dogs are not chipped. While that statistic is surprising enough, the scale of the problem is compounded by the fact that 59% of cats taken in by Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and 80% taken in by the Cats Protection adoption centres were not chipped. That can truly be heartbreaking for those pet owners who have lost their feline friends and cannot be reunited with them. As a proud nation of animal lovers, we must do better, which is why these regulations are so important. However, I would like to ask the Minister a couple of questions related to the implementation of the regulations.

Can the Minister confirm that the department is in discussions both with local authorities and with the relevant charities to ensure support for those who will struggle to meet the financial obligations associated with the implementation of the regulations, as has been highlighted?

On a further point, Rebecca Pow, the Minister in the other place, this week suggested that a further SI would follow regarding the microchipping database system and the need to have a standardised system in place for relevant parties to access. Can the Minister inform us as to when we should expect both the SI and sight of these plans to streamline the 22 current systems?

I would also be grateful if the Minister could provide your Lordships’ Committee with the definition his department and relevant stakeholders will be expected to use to differentiate between owned, feral and community cats.

We all want nothing but the best for our pets and those animals which we see in and around our communities every day—or currently on the campaign trail—which is why the Labour Party supports this statutory instrument. I pay tribute to the animal welfare organisations which have campaigned on this issue for many years and brought it to our attention, most notably Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, Cats Protection and the RSPCA, whose work we recognise today.