Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of the changes to the law concerning dog control made in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

The early warning notices brought in by the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 came into force in October 2014 and it is too early to make an assessment of their effectiveness. However, the table attached shows the number of successful prosecutions brought under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 for allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control in 2014. The period for June to December covers the period when the amendments to the 1991 Act by the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 came into force.

Table 1

(1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

(2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice. Ref: 271-15 PQC 1009 - 1010 & 1013