Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
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 are taking are to encourage local authorities to appoint animal welfare inspectors.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra does not hold records of how many local authorities have not appointed or trained inspectors to enforce equine welfare issues.
Local authorities are required to enforce The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 which includes the licensing of businesses that hire out horses for riding or instruction in riding and which requires inspectors to be suitably qualified. We would expect most local authorities, therefore, to have inspectors trained in enforcing equine welfare more generally.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on how many local authorities have not appointed animal welfare inspectors with training to enforce the Animal Welfare Act 2006 with respect to equine welfare.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra does not hold records of how many local authorities have not appointed or trained inspectors to enforce equine welfare issues.
Local authorities are required to enforce The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 which includes the licensing of businesses that hire out horses for riding or instruction in riding and which requires inspectors to be suitably qualified. We would expect most local authorities, therefore, to have inspectors trained in enforcing equine welfare more generally.