Asked by: Ian Byrne (Independent - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the impact of greyhound racing on animal welfare.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The welfare of greyhounds in England is protected by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The Act allows action to be taken where there is evidence of cruelty to an animal or a failure to provide for that animal’s welfare needs. This includes where greyhounds are raced or kept at trainers’ kennels. Specific welfare standards at all greyhound racing tracks in England are also required by the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010, including having a vet present while dogs are running (with all greyhounds inspected by the vet before being allowed to run).
The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) has also undertaken a number of welfare reforms, including publishing a long term, national welfare strategy – ‘A Good Life for Every Greyhound’. The Government is monitoring GBGB’s progress in delivering the strategy and should further measures be required the Government will consider options which are targeted, effective, and proportionate.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Independent - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on animal welfare of the use of cages in farming.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We remain firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.
The use of cages and other close confinement systems for farmed animals is an issue which we are fully considering.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Independent - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the government is taking to improve animal welfare.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation. That is exactly what we will do, and we will be outlining more detail in due course.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Independent - Liverpool West Derby)
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 that concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are within the guideline levels set by the Drinking Water Inspectorate.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Drinking Water Inspectorate’s (DWI) current guideline limit on individual types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) of 100 nanograms per litre for treated drinking water was set in 2021 based on an assessment of existing scientific knowledge. These limits were agreed with the UK Health Security Agency to be robust levels with an appropriate margin to ensure our drinking water is not a danger to human health.
Work continues across the Government to help us assess levels of PFAS occurring in the environment, their sources, and potential risks to inform policy and regulatory approaches.
In July we also announced a rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan to deliver on our legally binding targets to save nature. This includes how best to manage chemicals, including the risks posed by PFAS.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Independent - Liverpool West Derby)
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 that abattoirs adhere to animal welfare requirements.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) monitors and enforces animal welfare legislation in abattoirs on behalf of Defra. Legislation sets out strict requirements to protect the welfare of animals when slaughtered and Official Veterinarians of the FSA are present in all approved slaughterhouses to monitor and enforce animal welfare requirements. The FSA has a zero-tolerance policy to animal welfare breaches and will take appropriate action where these occur.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Independent - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to require veterinarians to (a) record and (b) publish information on all animals they euthanise.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Euthanasia of an animal is an important means to help protect animal welfare by being able to relieve suffering. Whilst this is the primary reason for euthanasia, a veterinary surgeon must also take account of the owners’ wishes and circumstances. Advice about euthanasia is laid out in the guidance underpinning the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ Code of Professional Conduct, which all veterinary surgeons practising in the UK must adhere to. Where a veterinary surgeon considers a request for euthanasia is not in the best interest of the animal, they can challenge this.
We have not seen evidence of widespread unnecessary euthanasia and we do not consider that the case for a new reporting requirement has been established.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Independent - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to implement mandatory reporting by veterinarians of the euthanasia of (a) healthy and (b) otherwise treatable animals.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Euthanasia of an animal is an important means to help protect animal welfare by being able to relieve suffering. Whilst this is the primary reason for euthanasia, a veterinary surgeon must also take account of the owners’ wishes and circumstances. Advice about euthanasia is laid out in the guidance underpinning the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ Code of Professional Conduct, which all veterinary surgeons practising in the UK must adhere to. Where a veterinary surgeon considers a request for euthanasia is not in the best interest of the animal, they can challenge this.
We have not seen evidence of widespread unnecessary euthanasia and we do not consider that the case for a new reporting requirement has been established.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Independent - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward (a) legislative proposals to amend the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and (b) other legislative proposals to reclassify catapults as illegal weapons when used to harm wildlife.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government takes crimes against wildlife seriously, including those involving the use of catapults. The Government has no current plans though to amend the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales.
While the Act does not include catapults in the list of weapons that a person must not use to kill an animal, it is still illegal under this Act to deliberately attempt to kill, injure, or harm protected species. There are a range of offences around deliberate attempts to kill, injure or inflict harm on wildlife under provisions not just in this Act, but also in the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 and in the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Independent - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on (a) increasing penalties for wildlife crime, (b) widening the range of wildlife crimes which receive notifiable status and (c) incorporating wildlife crime into the Policing Education Qualification Framework.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government takes crimes against wildlife seriously. In 2022 Defra more than doubled its funding of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) from a total of £495,000 over the three previous years to £1.2 million for the three-year period of 2022-25.
Significant sanctions are already available to judges to hand down to those convicted of wildlife crimes - up to an unlimited fine and/or a six-month custodial sentence. Furthermore, the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 realises the Government’s manifesto commitment to increase the sentences available to our courts for the most serious cases of animal cruelty – including acts against wildlife - by increasing the maximum penalty for this offence to five years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. Sentencing those convicted of wildlife crimes is, however, a matter for judges; these decisions are rightly taken independently of Government.
Defra has actively supported stakeholders in making representations to the Home Office regarding the issue of making wildlife crimes notifiable. However, regardless of notifiable status, when it comes to responding to the most prevalent wildlife crimes, Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.
Wildlife crime is not mandated as authorised professional practice and therefore is not a training requirement via the College of Policing. However, the NWCU (funded to a large degree by Defra) currently provides training to police officers across the UK. This training reflects the National Police Chiefs' Council wildlife crime strategy and provides comprehensive training in UK wildlife crime priorities and emerging trends. Since November 2022 the NWCU has trained 890 officers and is in the process of building a comprehensive digital training platform for wildlife crime which police officers and police staff will be able to access nationwide. Additionally, the NWCU provides a digital information hub for almost 1000 police staff, with up-to-date guidance on investigating wildlife crime.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Independent - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to end the lethal dose 50% process for testing of substances on groups of animals; and if he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department about increasing funding for non-animal methodologies in substance testing.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The UK supports work to develop New Approach Methodologies which can provide information on chemical hazards and risk assessment without the use of animals.
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is the UK regulatory authority for veterinary medicines. The VMD assesses applications submitted by the veterinary pharmaceutical industry in line with national and international regulations and guidance to ensure safe and effective veterinary medicines of good quality are marketed. These requirements may therefore necessitate animal testing either to develop and register new veterinary medicines or for routine product quality control, to ensure the continued quality, safety and efficacy batch to batch. Non-animal tests are not always available. The VMD is committed to phasing out the use of animals for testing purposes where possible, in accordance with the principles of 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement). Furthermore, the UK is a signatory to the European Pharmacopoeia (which sets minimum quality standards of medicines) and the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes. This commitment to the 3Rs is also enshrined in the UK’s Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 under which scientific procedures in animals are regulated.
The Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation (the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs, Andrew Griffith) recently announced that the Government will publish a plan to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science, which will be published in the summer. He also requested that we double our investment in research to achieve these approaches next year to £20 million across the system in 2024/25.
LD50 testing is not required for preclinical development of novel medicines. Some authorised medicines in the UK include (LD50) quality control tests which require the use of animals, conducted to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of specific medicines. UK regulators follow the principles of the 3Rs. Significant progress has been made on validating alternative methods which do not use animals, including the possibility of replacing mice by in vitro suitable cell cultures in LD50-type testing methods, and the relevant regulatory quality standards and testing requirements have been revised accordingly for these specific medicines.