Harvey’s Law
Debate between Derek Twigg and Natascha Engel(9 years, 8 months ago)
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Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the e-petition relating to Harvey’s law.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Rosindell. I am grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for finding time for this important debate. It is good to see that its Chair is here and will take part in the debate.
A lot of people around the country will be following this important debate. We are a country of dog lovers and animal lovers, so a lot of people are interested in it. I am grateful to my constituent, Mrs Pauline Krause, and her fellow campaigners—in particular, Nina Blackburn, who has been leading the campaign—for their help and guidance, which has enabled me to raise this issue in Parliament. They have shown great energy and enthusiasm in setting up the petition and travelling around the country lobbying various MPs, some of whom are here today. It is a great example of democracy in action and how it can work—a constituent goes to see their MP and raises the issue, other members of the public raise it with their MPs and we end up with a debate here. Hopefully, the Minister will go one further and complete the democratic process by agreeing to what is being asked for today. We will hear from him later.
I do not own a pet and have never owned one, but I know from family members, friends and colleagues about the love and care that so many owners have for their pets. As I said, we are a country of animal lovers. Pets can become important parts of families, and deep attachments are commonplace. The loss of a much-loved pet is traumatic for all concerned, and for many families it can lead to a lot of grieving. The fact that more than 100,000 people have signed the e-petition shows the extent of the concern about this issue, and many people are interested in the outcome of the debate. Many families have pet dogs, cats and other animals. The campaigners tell me that about 24% of households in England own a dog, which is a remarkable figure. I imagine that the figure is similar for cats, although I do not know it off the top of my head.
The first I heard about Harvey’s law was when my constituent, Mrs Pauline Krause, came to my surgery in July 2014. Who would have guessed then that I would end up leading a debate on the issue? Pauline explained Harvey’s story. We are here today because of what happened to Harvey, so I will relate that story and give one or two other examples.
Harvey was a beloved pet of Jude Devine and Shaun Robertson, who are from Sheffield but were visiting friends in Rainhill, which, by coincidence, is next door to my constituency. Harvey bolted through an open door on 23 November 2013 at about 10 pm. He was killed on the M62, which was just 21 minutes away. Harvey was chipped and was wearing an identification badge. His owners contacted all the relevant bodies, including the Highways Agency, on an almost daily basis, and they were always told that no dogs had been collected from the road. Harvey’s owners, along with many others, searched for him for nearly 13 weeks, believing that he was still alive. They spent thousands of pounds during the search on flyers, banners, newspaper adverts and articles, in the hope that he would be found.
Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)
On that point, people spend a lot of time phoning up the Highways Agency, the local authority and local vets, and it costs those agencies money to deal with the phone calls. This debate is about not only grieving pet owners but public money, and the measures that we want to be introduced will save money for the public purse.
Derek Twigg
As usual, my hon. Friend makes an important point. There is a cost to the owners of the pets, but the cost to the public purse can be also be substantial, because it takes time to contact the individuals and chase them up. That is not a good use of public time. If the law we are debating today were introduced, the situation would be much better.
Harvey’s case was tragic, and I want to give a few more examples, because the tragedy can be unbelievable for some families.