Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill

George Eustice Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 25th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (George Eustice)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

This Bill is the second that the Government are bringing forward concerning the welfare of animals, and its scope relates to the keeping of animals in Great Britain. We are a proud nation of animal lovers, and we have a strong record of being at the forefront of championing the best standards of care and protection for our animals, both at home and around the world. The UK was the first country in the world to pass legislation to protect animals as long ago as the Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822. Since 2010, we have achieved a great deal. On farms, we introduced new regulations for minimum standards for meat chickens, banned the use of conventional battery cages for laying hens, and introduced mandatory CCTV in slaughterhouses. We have also modernised our licensing system for a range of activities such as dog breeding and pet sales, and banned the commercial third-party sale of puppies and kittens. Our 2019 manifesto outlined how we intend to go further. Earlier this year we published the “Action Plan for Animal Welfare”, laying out how we will ensure that animals, both domestically and internationally, are subject to the highest possible standards of welfare.

A week ago, the House gathered to pay tribute to Sir David Amess. Many hon. Members highlighted his tireless work for higher animal welfare during his 38 years in this House. We will feel his absence today. He typically sat a couple of rows behind me off my left shoulder, sometimes with helpful interventions and often with more challenging ones, but always with a sense of good will and that positive smile even when being challenging.

In particular, Sir David campaigned for many years on the issue of live animal exports. He also campaigned on primates kept as pets and on the puppy trade. I last met Sir David at an event organised by the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation at the Conservative party conference, where he expressed his delight at how many of these issues, many of which will be raised in today’s debate, had moved to the fore. We will obviously miss him. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”]

I thank Lorraine Platt for the work that she has done through the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation to campaign towards several of the measures that we are bringing forward in this Bill. I also take this opportunity to thank the Scottish and Welsh Governments for their contributions to the development of the Bill. Although the provisions in the Bill will not extend to Northern Ireland, I thank the Northern Irish Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for their collaboration and valuable support in helping my Department with the development of these policies.

The Bill focuses on five key areas. First, the Government will take advantage of our departure from the European Union to ban the export of certain livestock and other animals for slaughter and fattening. That will apply to journeys beginning in or transiting through Great Britain to a third country. Many hon. Members have campaigned on this issue, including my right hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers) and my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Craig Mackinlay). We have carefully considered the scientific and expert evidence and the responses to our recent public consultation in England and Wales.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

I very much welcome the ban on the live export of animals for slaughter. However, I want to ensure that livestock and breeding stock can come in and out of the country without hindrance. Is the Secretary of State confident, as he brings in that ban, that we can keep breeding stock coming in?

[George Eustice]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. That is why the Bill relates specifically to animals for fattening and slaughter; it does not include animals for breeding. The Government’s view is that exporting animals for slaughter and fattening is unnecessary; indeed, such journeys are unnecessarily stressful for the animals concerned. Those animals could be slaughtered or fattened domestically, and that could be carried out by means of a shorter or less stressful journey.

The Government’s recent consultation also covered a range of proposals to improve the domestic welfare in transport regime, and the Bill provides us with the power to introduce improvements by means of regulations at a later date. We recently published our response to the consultation, outlining how we will take forward these reforms, working alongside farming and animal welfare organisations. We will carry out further engagement with stakeholders before implementing any reforms, and we will work closely with the Scottish and Welsh Governments to ensure, as far as possible, a consistent legislative approach across Great Britain.

Secondly, our departure from the EU also means that we are able to bring in measures to tackle the serious issue of puppy imports into Great Britain. The number of cats, dogs and ferrets brought into GB through non-commercial and commercial routes has increased significantly over the years. That has been accompanied by an increase in young puppies being illegally landed in the UK. For example, the number of dogs intercepted rose from 390 in 2019 to almost 1,300 in 2020. That problem has been highlighted by many hon. Members in recent years, not least by the Chair of the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish), and by many other members of that Committee.

There is growing evidence that commercial importers currently abuse our non-commercial pet travel rules to bring in lots of puppies at once to maximise profit, and that the welfare of those puppies is frequently compromised. The Bill therefore reduces the number of pets that can be brought into the country for non-commercial reasons by a person who is coming into or returning to the country. The maximum number of pets will be reduced to five per motor vehicle on ferry and rail routes, and three per person where someone is arriving by air or as a foot passenger. That will deter traders from abusing the non-commercial pet travel rules to bring in puppies for onward sale.

We also have concerns that many of the puppies imported into Great Britain have been sourced from breeding facilities with low welfare standards, and that their welfare is being compromised during transport.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

I am conscious of how much puppy prices have increased, particularly during the pandemic. While I welcome the reduction to five pets per person, I am a little concerned that if they were five high-value puppies, that may be still be worth a criminal’s while. Will the Secretary of State be prepared to keep that number under review, for higher-value puppies in particular?

[George Eustice]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. We have an important balance to strike. Obviously, these rules are for non-commercial pets, and there are people who may have several dogs that they travel with. We are trying to strike the balance such that we ensure that we do not have a situation where innocent people travelling with their pets suddenly need a commercial licence, while significantly tightening the regime to prevent abuse of the non-commercial pet travel route.

The Bill includes an enabling power that will allow us to implement further restrictions on the importation of dogs, cats and ferrets on welfare grounds through secondary legislation. We have recently conducted a consultation on the detail of those measures, including proposals to raise the minimum age for importing puppies and to prohibit the import of heavily pregnant dogs and dogs with cropped ears and docked tails. That consultation closed on 16 October, and we will be working to analyse the responses over the coming weeks.

Thirdly, the Bill delivers on our manifesto commitment to ban the keeping of primates as domestic pets in England. Primates have highly complex welfare and social needs, making them unsuitable to be kept in a home environment. I saw the consequences of that myself during a visit to the Wild Futures monkey sanctuary several years ago with my hon. Friend the Member for South East Cornwall (Mrs Murray). I congratulate her on her work in this area—she previously brought forward a private Member’s Bill—along with other hon. Members, including my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Richard Drax), who has also raised this issue with me repeatedly over the years.

People keeping primates outside of licensed zoos and scientific facilities will now need to obtain a specialist primate keeper licence to do so. That new licence will ensure that the only people keeping primates are those able to meet the highest welfare standards appropriate to meet their welfare needs.

Primate keepers will be required to apply to their local authority for a licence and will be subject to inspections by a suitably qualified person. Only a person holding a licence will be able to buy, sell, transfer or breed primates. The local authority will have the power to revoke a licence if the prescribed conditions are not adhered to, and in instances where primates are being kept illegally, it will be able to seize and rehome them. At the request of Welsh Ministers, we will bring forward a Government amendment in Committee to extend this measure to Wales.

The fourth set of measures in the Bill will update legislation going back to the 1950s on dogs attacking and worrying livestock. Livestock worrying is a serious and increasing problem, which can cause significant emotional and financial consequences for livestock keepers. The legislation will be updated to cover all places where livestock are kept or may be present, such as on roads while being moved from one field to another.

Updating the legislation will also ensure that it covers all the types of livestock now more commonly kept for production, or for other purposes, in England, including camelids, emus, ostriches and enclosed deer. Crucially, the reformed provisions will also give the police more enforcement powers to prevent recurring incidents. Police will be able to seize and detain a dog until the end of an investigation, or the withdrawal or conclusion of a court case. Police will also be able to use DNA testing to collect evidence. I pay tribute to the work done in this area by a number of hon. Members, including my hon. Friends the Members for Ynys Môn (Virginia Crosbie) and for Aberconwy (Robin Millar).

Finally, we will update the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 to ensure animal welfare and conservation standards in zoos are strengthened, and can be updated and enforced more effectively. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the UK Zoos Expert Committee are currently overhauling the “Secretary of State’s Standards of Modern Zoo Practice”. The standards, which set out conditions that local authorities must have regard to when setting requirements of zoos, have previously been criticised for being vague and, in some places, unenforceable. We are drafting new, clearer standards, and amending the 1981 Act via the Bill to ensure that new standards must be followed.

The update to the standards, alongside our proposals to move conservation measures into the standards, should make the requirements placed on zoos clearer, and better enable local authorities to enforce those standards more effectively. The amendments will also increase maximum penalties for zoos not complying with the legislation, and modernise the appeals process for local authority licensing decisions in England.

[Dr Luke Evans (Bosworth) (Con)]

I am a member of the zoos and aquariums all-party parliamentary group, which is concerned about what the regulations may look like. Is there a timescale for when they are likely to be brought forward, or even a first draft, so there can be adequate consultation?

[George Eustice]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. I understand that we are already in discussion with zoos about this change. We will work very closely with them, through the working group, which has already looked at it and recommended it. I recognise that some zoos have anxiety about what it might entail, but I reassure him that we will work closely with the zoo sector.

In conclusion, this is an important year for animal welfare. The Bill sends a very clear message that we are serious about protecting the welfare of animals that are in the care of mankind. I am confident that Members of this House will agree that we have a special duty to kept animals; the Bill is a further important step in improving animal welfare for those. I therefore commend it to the House.