Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill

Luke Evans Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 25th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[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.

--- Later in debate ---

[Bill Wiggin]

I am grateful, as always, to my hon. Friend. I think that if he looks at the bit on the Northern Irish element in the explanatory notes, he will find that that is not in there for this particular element. I am sure that he will be on that Committee and sorting that out, which will be wonderful. None the less, it is important and it does matter.

In much the same way, the dog element in this Bill is important. A total of 843 illegal puppies were seized at the border last year. Again, it is always the unscrupulous who do not care that are ruining it for everybody else. I want to use this little moment in my speech to make this appeal to people: rather than spending huge amounts of money on a puppy, please think about rehoming before you buy your puppy. Just because it is rehoming does not mean that the buyer will get a pit bull with mental health issues—their dog could have come from a home exactly like their own where the owner has simply become too ill to look after their dog.

[Dr Luke Evans]

rose—

[Bill Wiggin]

The buyer might also find that their dog is house trained. On that note, it is entirely appropriate to give way to my hon. Friend.

[Dr Evans]

My hon. Friend’s point could be no more pertinent than at this moment in time given that, post lockdown, we are seeing a rise in animals being given away because owners cannot deal with them. We must get the message out that people looking for pets should please rehome these lockdown puppies.

[Bill Wiggin]

There is no better way of ruining the market for illegal puppies than simply getting them from the plentiful rehoming centres and charities. Finding the right home for our pets is a humane and worthy thing to do, so everyone should please look at this very carefully before they pay large sums of money.

I also urge the Government to look hard at dog theft and all the other animal-related crimes. We have read that they are going to treat such things in a very serious way and I encourage them to do so and I encourage them to iron out some of the minor hiccups in this piece of legislation and continue with the good work they are doing.

[Dr Luke Evans (Bosworth) (Con)]

It has caught my eye that there is no time limit on the current debate, and, given that we have been kept MPs during covid, it is nice for me to be able to rise to speak, but slightly ironic that it is within the kept animals Bill.

Mr Deputy Speaker mentioned that his vote in the Westminster dog of the year will go to David Amess’s dog. I hope that that has nothing to do with the fact that he met my two dogs on the street at the weekend which are also entered in the competition.

From farmers to residents, Bosworth is a constituency of animal lovers. We were in the top 10 of 650 constituencies when it came to petitioning for animal welfare. At this point, let me pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Chris Loder) for taking his Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill through the House with the help of the Government and the Opposition. That is a good example of what we can do when we work together—we can improve animal welfare. That Act should be lauded and seen as part of the record that the Conservatives are driving forward. I am pleased that this Bill has been introduced, because it really does mean a lot.

There are four main strands to this, and I will comment only briefly on the first two. On livestock exports, I was really pleased to hear the Secretary of State clear up the difference between breeding and fattening livestock. My farmers from the National Farmers’ Union are very concerned that the messaging is not getting out. When they hear us talk about banning live exports, they worry about what is happening to their livelihood. We need a nuance within the messaging and I urge the Government to get that across to make sure that the farming community does not feel threatened.

When it comes to bothering farm animals, I am pleased to see that there is no measure in the Bill that talks about bothering Londoners. Given the weekend that I had with my two whippets down here, I would have been in huge amounts of trouble because of the problems they caused. Fortunately, though, we are talking about the farming community. Again, it has been made abundantly clear that the farming community really feel this issue on an emotional and a financial level, and it could easily be stepped up. Would the Government consider running a campaign to raise awareness of the Countryside Code, because we can join together to change the legislation not only around bothering, but on how to care for our environment. Litter has been a real problem in the countryside during lockdown. An attempt to drive up awareness of what is involved in going to the countryside would be very welcome.

My speech focuses on two elements. The first is puppy smuggling. It is fantastic to see ear cropping and tail docking included in the legislation. Will the Government consider looking at brachycephalic pets? We know that one in five pets now being bought is short-nosed. When we talk about smuggling, could we incorporate that matter as well?

The shadow Minister mentioned micro-chipping and pet theft. I have sat in debates on both of those subjects and was pleased to hear that the Government were open-minded on the matter. Will the Minister comment on the pet theft reform group that has stepped up to look into the detail of this. While pet theft is very much a growing concern, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home says that there is such a fear of it that dogs are not being taken out. Clearly, this must be a fact-based exercise. I would be grateful to hear when those reports are coming forward, so that this House can use those facts to debate the matter and what will actually make a difference.

Finally, I wish to focus on zoos. I must declare an interest: I sit on the all-party-group for zoos and aquariums under the fantastic stewardship of my hon. Friend the Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell). It must be said that, during the pandemic, he has been a true champion of zoos. Given that zoos are covered by three Departments—the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Treasury—it has been difficult to ensure that the noise on zoos is heard, and there has been no finer champion of them than my hon. Friend.

Zoos have a special place in my heart not only because I have Twycross Zoo in my patch, but because it was the subject of my first question in PMQs. Interestingly, I was not in this place, as it was the first PMQs done remotely, and it was not the Prime Minister answering the question, but the Deputy Prime Minister, but that takes nothing away from the fact that Twycross is incredibly important not only to me and my constituents, but to our region. That was clear from the number of MPs who spoke to me in support of Twycross during the tough times. It should come as no surprise therefore to know that, as of today, I have secured a visit from the Secretary of State for Levelling Up to see our bid at Twycross Zoo for the levelling up fund. As the hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion) pointed out, zoos do so much. They are the ark of species. When we are seeing such decline, they offer the hope of learning and of contributing to our environment. Twycross is exemplary in that regard. It has put forward a bid for a national education and conservation centre, which will not only breed the next specialists in conservation, but will drive the economy too. It already has 600,000 visitors a year. If the bid is successful, that number will grow. I welcome anyone else who would like to visit Twycross, because it is a fantastic day out.

There is a serious point here. I have met both the Zoos Expert Committee and indeed DEFRA to talk through the Secretary of State’s standards of modern practice and to hear what the Zoos Expert Committee had to say. I am pleased to see that there is representation from the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums on the Zoos Expert Committee, because there is a worry among the zoo community about what the provisions on zoos would look like. The zoos that we have heard about today—Whipsnade, Chester and Twycross—will have no problems and nothing to fear, and rightly so.

This Bill is all about driving up the standards of bad zoos. In this age, we must make a distinction between good zoos, which are in favour of conservation and education, and bad zoos, which are simply there to profiteer off the back of animals. That is what is at the heart of the Bill. However, we must ensure that conservation is not simply seen through the amount of turnover or financial dedication, but through all the non-tangibles that we have heard about, such as education and support for places elsewhere around the world. That is what Twycross thrives on. With the four great apes that it has on show, it is literally a world leader in understanding great apes and chimpanzees. That level of conservation must be what the Bill drives forward. I am quite happy for the Secretary of State to have these powers, because as we move forward we must be able to update the legislation. It was last looked at through the reforms of the Zoo Licensing Act 1981, but I urge the Government to come forward and clear up what conservation truly means.

That has been a fast canter through my view from Bosworth—from the zoo sector, and from the farmers and residents there. I am most pleased to hear that, in a time of difficulties and hostilities, we have heard such good news from both sides of the House. I really hope that the Bill is a success in supporting animals.