Oral Answers to Questions

Robert Courts Excerpts

Thursday 26th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We very much hope that the Minister partook himself.

[Robert Courts (Witney) (Con)]

4. What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Justice on the potential merits of raising the maximum sentence for animal cruelty to five years’ imprisonment.

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Michael Gove)]

I had positive discussions with the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice prior to my announcement on 30 September that the Government plan to increase the maximum penalty for animal cruelty from the current six months to five years’ imprisonment.

[Robert Courts]

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that answer. Recent research from Battersea has shown that two thirds of the British public would indeed like sentencing to be increased, as the average sentence was only 3.3 months in 2015 once credit for a guilty plea was taken into account. However, will the Secretary of State reassure my constituents that the courts have indicated a desire for those increased sentencing powers such that they will actually get used once they are in place?