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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to ban the use of whips for encouragement in horse racing.

The Government considers that the British Horseracing Authority’s rules on use of the whip during horseracing, which were drawn up in consultation with the RSPCA, together with the Animal Welfare Act 2006 provide protection for the welfare of racehorses.

There are, therefore, no proposals to ban the use of the whip during horseracing.