Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) prosecutions for animal cruelty and (b) the number of people found guilty of those offences in each year from 2005 to 2019; and if he will make a statement.

The Ministry of Justice holds data on prosecutions and outcomes for offences regarding animal cruelty, in England and Wales, up to the year ending December 2019, available in the ‘Outcomes by offence’ data tool, here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938568/outcomes-by-offence-tool-2019.xlsx

This tool includes data from the last 10 years; figures for 2005 to 2019 can be found in the table attached.

The following are the offences that were considered:

• 108a Animal Cruelty under sections 4-8 under Animal Welfare Act 2006
• 108b Other Cruelty to animal offences.