Circuses: Animal Welfare

(asked on 2nd March 2017) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the licensing scheme for wild animals in circuses has cost since its introduction; and what proportion of those costs are incurred by licensed operators.


Answered by
George Eustice Portrait
George Eustice
This question was answered on 9th March 2017

Since its introduction in January 2013, only two circuses have been licensed under the Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012.

Costs to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) for the day-to-day administration of the licensing scheme are covered by the application fee payable each year by a circus. The application fee is set at £389.36. For the period 2013 to 2017, APHA have received £3,893.60 in applications fees from the two licensed circuses.

Costs of inspections under the licensing scheme are also paid for by licensed circuses. Inspection fees are set at £72.53 per hour and inspectors can also claim reasonable travel and subsistence costs. For the period 2013 to date, the total costs of inspections incurred by the two licensed circuses are £23,555.76.

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