Draft Equine (Records, Identification and Movement) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

Caroline Flint Excerpts

Monday 18th February 2019 General Committees

[David Rutley]

I thank my hon. Friend for his contribution; I thought he was going to talk about the derogation, which obviously will continue. I will seek some inspiration and come back to him in my closing remarks.

At present, the EU’s 2015 implementing regulation on horse passports applies directly in the UK, as it does in all member states. The EU law is supported by UK domestic enforcement legislation. After exit day, the EU legislation will be retained under the withdrawal Act. The draft regulations have the important, immediate job of making the necessary technical amendments to the retained law so that the movement of equines into the EU can continue.

[Caroline Flint (Don Valley) (Lab)]

The explanatory memorandum states:

“Equine welfare is enforced by local authority Trading Standards and robust identification information makes it easier to deal with cases of abandoned, lost or stolen equines.”

In my constituency, and many others, horses and ponies are abandoned on private land. One farmer had 70 left on his land, and there was little enforcement by the local authority, because there are not the powers to deal with those ponies and horses and they do not have identification. Post Brexit, will we have a better system for dealing with ponies and horses that are already in our country and whose owners are hard to identify?

[David Rutley]

The right hon. Lady makes a good point, to which I will come back later. Clearly, provision is in place under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, and in recent years we have made other changes that make it easier to address the issue of stray horses, but also those that have been tethered. We will need to take further steps in that direction.

The draft regulations ensure that the food chain continues to be protected and that the contribution of equine identification to animal welfare and biosecurity continues to be made. EU law requires that equines be identified by way of a passport. In most cases, equines born after 2009 must also be uniquely identifiable by way of a microchip; I will say more on that point in a moment. The passport contains important information about the equine, including its unique equine life number, a microchip number when one has been inserted, and a silhouette on to which the equine’s markings are drawn. The passport also records details of any veterinary medicines administered to the animal and its current food chain status eligibility.

The equine passport is long established, and these draft regulations will maintain the status quo for the vast majority of people. Domestic legislation on the identification of equines—the Equine Identification (England) Regulations 2018—has recently been updated. That includes a new provision that equines, regardless of age, must be microchipped. Therefore, we are taking further steps, notwithstanding the fact that we probably need to do more. The devolved Administrations have prepared equivalent instruments.

Having all equines microchipped, except for those recognised and listed as belonging to semi-wild populations —an issue raised by my hon. Friend the Member for North Cornwall—will significantly enhance our equine identification credentials as a third country and mark us out as a leader among our peers. Underpinned by domestic legislation, the UK’s central equine database was launched at the national equine forum on 8 March 2018 and now contains data about virtually every equine in the UK.

I draw hon. Members’ attention to an additional process change made by the draft regulations, namely the insertion of a new article 15A. As a third country, the UK will be required to generate a supplementary travel document to accompany some equine movements. Equine IDs issued by passport-issuing organisations in the UK will not suffice for that purpose under EU law, because the ID must be issued by the competent authority of the third country—for example, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in England. The travel document is likely to be necessary only for unregistered equines, provided that the Commission agrees to recognise our stud books relating to registered equines. The Animal and Plant Health Agency has drawn up a simple single-page document that will meet the requirements of the legislation and which can be printed off and signed by the vet at the same time as other travel documentation is issued. That would be the export health certificate. APHA has confirmed that it is on track to being fully resourced to accommodate that change.

The House of Lords sifting Committee specifically raised the cost of blood tests for equines moving into or through the EU following UK withdrawal. Let me make the position completely clear. European rules state that third countries must be assigned a disease risk status, and there are seven possible categories, based on the geographic region of the third country and the level of associated health risk. Blood testing is a mandatory requirement for all equines from third countries. The number of tests required reflects the disease risk category assigned to the third country. Given the UK’s high health status and high welfare standards, of which we are rightly very proud, we would expect to be assessed as low risk and therefore subject to the minimum number of such tests. That would limit the cost impacts on the sector, which we understand to be in the order of £200 to £500, depending on the third-country category in which the UK is placed by the EU.

I stress that the testing requirements, as with the need for an additional APHA-issued travel document, are not in any way due to the legislation. Both requirements are a consequence of the UK withdrawing from the EU and becoming a third country, where we would be subject to already existing laws set down for third countries. The equine sector is already very familiar with blood tests. It is the industry norm for current movements from the UK to third countries. The equine sector has been receptive and welcoming of the new equine regime introduced over the past year and has been calling for the changes for some time. The draft regulations will back up those existing rules.

To summarise, the draft regulations seek only to make technical amendments to retained EU law following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, ensuring the continued operability of the rules after exit and that UK horses are compliant with EU requirements for third-country equines. The regulations do not make any substantive change to policy or enforcement. Retention of the system and the rules regarding equine identification are vital to protect equine health and ensure the safety of the human food chain and the continued orderly movement of equines into and through the EU.

I trust that Members will agree that it is important to have the draft regulations in place in order to ensure that retained law is operable following our exit. They preserve our high standards of equine identification, ease of movement, welfare and protections of the human food chain. I therefore commend the draft statutory instrument to the Committee.

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[Caroline Flint]

It is a pleasure to serve under your careful stewardship while debating this important matter, Mr Sharma. Following the right hon. Member for North Shropshire, I put on the record Doncaster’s proud racing heritage. The Northern Racing College is actually in my constituency—there are only two racing colleges in the country, and we are proud that the northern one is based in Don Valley—and the St Leger stakes, which is one of the classics, takes place every September at Doncaster racecourse. We have a huge interest in bloodstocks as well, which is important to many people who enjoy the races in Doncaster and to the many businesses that rely on that industry from one year to the next.

I will ask a couple of questions and make a point or two about the draft regulations. I sit on Committees such as this every single week, and I listen with bated breath to hear what will be forthcoming from Ministers and shadow Ministers. It has always seemed total common sense to me to not throw the baby out with the bathwater as we leave the European Union. Where we have established procedures that work for the EU and will continue to work for us in the future, there should be a simple process of transposing into UK law that which we currently share with our EU neighbours. In fact, I suggest that on many occasions, given our rich heritage when it comes to horse-racing and horses more widely, we have been at the forefront of the negotiations and discussions in the EU to ensure the highest standards for the transport of horses and ponies, and for animal welfare. I have no doubt that we will continue to be at the forefront of that debate.

I say gently to those on my own Front Bench that if it was the other way around and we were in government, we too would try to find a way to sift through the less controversial statutory instruments and regulations, and to focus more time on the more debatable ones. We should not make a mountain out of a molehill on every single occasion.

I have a couple of questions for the Minister. My hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich made a pertinent point about the number of available vets. My most recent discussion on this issue was in a Public Accounts Committee hearing on our border readiness just last week, at which we had the permanent secretaries for Transport and for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

I was pleased to hear that the staff at DEFRA have worked so hard on these statutory instruments, and I commend those civil servants and staff for the work they have done in very difficult circumstances to get all these SIs through. If I am correct—I am sure the Minister has the figure to hand—we are almost at the end of the rainbow when it comes to this matter, with only five statutory instruments likely to have to be taken after 29 March, to tie up legislation in certain areas. I commend DEFRA for that work.

However, on the border and the role of vets in licensing and inspection—this is connected to the point my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich made—I have a few concerns about DEFRA relying too much on the market to deliver, without ensuring that it really understands the state of play and the pressures that might come to bear on those working in this field. I would welcome it if the Minister could reassure us that, even at this late stage, every opportunity will be taken to double check that the facilities and services are there.

I thank the Minister for what he said about the microchipping of horses. Throughout my 20 years as an MP, the matter of horses being left, particularly on private land, has been a perennial problem. Local authorities and the police are often hesitant to remove horses that are not getting the best welfare and whose owners are hard to track down. I look forward to that legislation coming into being.