Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to take steps to end the sale of live decapod crustaceans.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are working closely with stakeholders to gather information and build a clear evidence base on decapod crustacean welfare, in order to understand what opportunities exist to improve welfare standards. There are currently no plans to bring forward additional legislation in this area.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of the prohibition of the consumption of dog and cat meat within Great Britain.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
HM Government shares the public’s high regard for animal welfare, including the welfare of dogs and cats.
The United Kingdom is a nation of animal lovers and citizens of this country find the consumption of dog and cat meat inconceivable. HM Government strongly agrees with this view and is appalled by the prospect of dogs or cats being consumed.
HM Government has seen no evidence that dog or cat meat is being sold or consumed in this country.
There are strict rules for food businesses on the slaughter and production of meat for human consumption in the United Kingdom and dog or cat meat would not be permitted under these requirements. We also have specific laws on the sale of food in England which are enforced under the Novel Foods Regulation 2018. These regulations make it an offence to sell dog or cat meat in England.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to protect whistle-blowers who report animal abuse on farms.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
There are clear rules in place to protect and manage personal data under the Data Protection Act 2018 and in the eight data principles contained in the General Data Protection Regulation.
Defra’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) investigates all allegations which raise concerns about the welfare of livestock on farm. APHA staff are provided with specific guidance on data protection rules and their obligations and responsibilities to protect personal information.
Data collected is only used, with permission, for the purposes of investigating a particular case and anyone reporting a suspected welfare issue to the APHA can also request anonymity.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the logistical security of the UK's food industry during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The food industry is very resilient and well equipped to respond to disruption. The industry sectors have highly resilient supply chains, as we have seen throughout the Covid-19 response. The Government has well established ways of working with the food industry to support their preparedness for potential disruptions to the supply chain. We have continued to work closely with stakeholders and industry during this time.
We have worked across Government to introduce measures to make sure businesses can continue to keep essential supplies flowing. These include extending delivery hours to supermarkets and flexing rules on drivers’ hours to allow a higher frequency of deliveries to stores.
We recognise the impact that absence rates as a result of Covid-19 have had on some businesses carrying out critical work across the food industry this summer. To enable those who would otherwise not have been able to work to safely do so, the Government introduced Workplace Daily Contact Testing.
As of 16 August 2021, those who are fully vaccinated, participants of approved vaccine trials or those unable to have the vaccine for medical reasons are exempt from self-isolation if they are a close contact of a positive case, though they continue to be advised to take a PCR test. Following these changes, the Workplace Daily Contact Testing scheme continues to provide benefits for contacts who have not yet been fully vaccinated, and those sites wishing to maintain a site continue to be supported.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the wellbeing of animals during transportation in the UK.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
At the end of last year we launched a consultation in England and Wales on banning the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening and other improvements to animal welfare in transport. We recently introduced into Parliament the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill which includes measures to ban live animal exports for slaughter and fattening from Great Britain. The Government’s response to the consultation was published on 18 August, outlining how we propose to take forward other improvements.
We will work closely with industry, NGOs and other stakeholders on our proposed policies to develop practical and workable solutions to improve animal welfare standards during transportation.
We already have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world and these proposals aim to raise those standards even further.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure the welfare of animals at livestock auctions.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Welfare of Animals at Markets Order 1990 covers the care of animals whilst at livestock auctions. In addition, all animals being transported for a commercial purpose to, and from, a livestock market are covered under regulations on the protection of animals during transport.
We launched a consultation in England and Wales in 2020 on improvements to the animal welfare in transport regime. We published our response on 18 August, outlining how we propose to take improvements forward.
We will work closely with industry, NGOs and other stakeholders on our proposed policies to develop practical and workable solutions to improve animal welfare standards.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that animal welfare standards are maintained on farms in (a) West Yorkshire and (b) England.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The welfare of farmed animals is protected by comprehensive and robust legislation across England, including West Yorkshire, alongside species-specific welfare codes which provide guidance on how to comply with the legislation.
This Government wants to continue to build on our strong track record for raising the bar when it comes to farm animal welfare. We are delivering a series of ambitious reforms, as outlined in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare which was published in May this year. We are also actively exploring options for improving the UK food system and this includes phasing out of cages.
As part of our plans for future farming, we are co-designing an Animal Health and Welfare Pathway with industry – to promote the production of healthier, higher-welfare animals at a level beyond compliance with current regulations – underpinning our high international reputation for health and welfare and future increases to regulatory standards.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the total percentage of bovine TB tests involving the use of tuberculin that have produced false positives.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Single Intradermal Comparative Cervical Tuberculin test, commonly known as the ‘comparative skin test’, is the primary official antemortem test for tuberculosis (TB) in cattle in the UK and Ireland. This test has a very high specificity at standard interpretation of 99.98%, giving on average only one false positive result for every 5,000 to 6,000 uninfected cattle tested.
It is not possible to determine that a positive bovine TB (bTB) test in any species was actually a false positive result. However, the high specificity of the tests used, combined with the fact that they are often deployed in parts of the country with a high prevalence of bTB (or in herds with known or suspected infection), means that positive test results have a high predictive value. Post-mortem examinations of test positive animals do not always result in the detection of visible lesions of bTB and attempts to culture the bacterium in the laboratory may prove unsuccessful. In such cases this may be because the infection has not progressed to the stage at which definitive confirmation of disease is possible. In other words, absence of visible lesions of bTB at post-mortem examination or negative culture results do not indicate absence of infection in a bTB test-positive animal.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many recorded instances there have been of the sale of (a) dog and (b) cat meat in (i) West Yorkshire and (ii) England since 1 January 2021.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government has seen no evidence that dog or cat meat is being sold or consumed in this country.
There are strict rules for food businesses on slaughter and production of meat for human consumption in the UK and dog or cat meat would not be permitted under these requirements. We also have specific laws on the sale of food in England which are enforced under the Novel Foods Regulation 2018. These regulations make it an offence to sell dog or cat meat in England.
The UK is a nation of animal lovers and citizens of this country find the consumption of dog and cat meat inconceivable. This Government strongly agrees with this view and is appalled by the prospect of dogs or cats being consumed.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of launching a review of horse welfare standards in the UK.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government shares the public's high regard for animal welfare, and we are committed to enhancing our status as a world leader in the protection of animals. The Action Plan for Animal Welfare is an ambitious plan which sets out an overview of the Government's main priorities on animal welfare and conservation. In the action plan, we have committed to ensuring that the equine sector addresses key welfare issues such as racehorse fatality levels.
Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (the 2006 Act) it is an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to an animal. Anyone who is cruel to an animal faces being sent to prison for up to 5 years, or receiving an unlimited fine, or both. The 2006 Act is backed up by the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and Their Hybrids which provides owners with information on how to meet the welfare needs of their equines. The Code makes clear that owners are responsible for meeting the horse's need for safe and suitable shelter and pasture, whether this is through a livery yard, rented land or land that they own. The Code can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/700200/horses-welfare-codes-of-practice-april2018.pdf
The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 were developed to help improve welfare standards across a range of activities involving animals that are licensed by local authorities. Under these regulations, hiring out horses in the course of a business for riding or instruction in riding and selling animals as pets in the course of a business are both licensable activities. This includes riding schools, trekking, loan horses, pony parties, hunter hirelings, polo/polocrosse instruction, pony hire, pony and donkey rides.
The Animal Welfare Committee is an expert committee that advises the Department on the welfare of animals. This includes farmed, companion and wild animals kept by people. Please see further details here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/animal-welfare-committee-awc
Defra considers that current legislation and guidance provides the right safeguards and powers in respect of protecting horse welfare. We will continue to engage with key stakeholders to see if more can be done to spread best practice among horse owners, as well as increased partnership working with the equine welfare sector in order to tackle equine welfare issues.