Animal Rescue Centres

Greg Knight Excerpts

Tuesday 4th December 2018 Westminster Hall

[Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered animal rescue centres.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. Having lost two thirds of my first minute, I am pleased that my speech will go on for only 12 minutes, so I should be able to accommodate one or two colleagues who have indicated that they might wish to intervene. I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this issue. I thank the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Dogs Trust, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and Blue Cross for their briefings, and Richard Mitchell in my office for pulling them all together. I am pleased to see the Minister in his place.

This is a relatively simple issue: animal cruelty is wrong, we recognise that in our laws, and there are penalties for those who break those laws. But there is an ongoing debate in Government about whether those laws need strengthening. There seems to be a consensus across most animal welfare organisations, which have long campaigned for increased sentences for animal cruelty and are working to change legislation, to increase the maximum sentence from six months to five years’ imprisonment. Some 250,000 pets who have been badly treated, abused or abandoned enter their centres every year, yet the custodial penalty of six months on conviction is the lowest custodial penalty in 100 jurisdictions across four continents.

[Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con)]

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that the consensus on the need for change reaches this side of the House too? Does he agree that there is a good case for setting up an animal abuse register, so that those who abuse animals can be tracked down and prevented from keeping animals in future?

[Jim Fitzpatrick]

I very much take the right hon. Gentleman’s point that this is not a party political issue. Indeed, most of my comments do not attack the Government but commend them for the comments and proposals they have made. However, we need to move on. He makes an interesting suggestion, and perhaps the Minister will respond to it.

Animal cruelty offenders are five times more likely to have a violent crime record. Welfare organisations were pleased when the Government issued the draft Animal Welfare (Sentencing and Recognition of Sentience) Bill in December 2018. Those organisations have long argued that several of the activities covered by the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 were in serious need of review.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (David Rutley)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. I congratulate the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick) on bringing forward this debate about animal rescue homes, which do a vital job looking after unwanted animals. He made his case with characteristic clarity and enthusiasm. No doubt he drew on his time as a respected Minister of State at DEFRA between 2009 and 2010. I am grateful for the tone he struck, and for the energy he put into his speech.

I acknowledge the valuable work that animal rescue homes up and down the country do to rescue and rehome thousands of sick, abandoned and stray animals each year. The wife of the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) obviously does important work in that regard, as do many volunteers, and we should thank them for that. The work of rescue homes is taken for granted by too many. We should remember that most people working in those homes are volunteers, who are incredibly dedicated to the welfare of the animals in their care.

The RSPCA, Dogs Trust, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and Blue Cross are well known to us and do fantastic work rescuing, caring for and rehoming animals in their care. We can be confident that animals in those organisations are looked after to the highest welfare standards, but we should not forget the smaller and nationally less well-known rescue homes that also work non-stop to care for unwanted and stray animals in our local communities.

[Sir Greg Knight]

I do not expect an immediate answer, but will the Minister at least reflect on the potential for introducing an animals abuse register, listing those who have been convicted of animal cruelty and banned from keeping animals?

[David Rutley]

I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire (Sir Greg Knight) for raising that issue. I heard what he said in his remarks earlier. The records of people convicted of animal welfare offences are recorded on the police national computer. I will gladly pick that issue up with him separately to explore this further, if he would like to do so.

Improving and ensuring the welfare of animals is at the heart of our recent welfare reforms. We have introduced regulations which came into force in October, including a requirement that licensed breeders should show puppies with their mothers. Local authorities also have more powers to inspect and enforce regulations. The hon. Member for Islwyn (Chris Evans), who is no longer in his seat, talked about the need to keep focused on welfare standards with breeders. Our actions do not stop there. The Government will also increase the maximum penalty for animal cruelty offences. It was announced last year that the custodial maximum penalty for animal cruelty will increase from six months’ imprisonment to five years. That remains the Government’s commitment and we will introduce it as soon as parliamentary time allows.