Animal Welfare Bill

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. The whole House will understand that it would perhaps be an error of judgment not to mention in the opening stages of this debate our good friend and colleague Tony Banks, a man who always had something pertinent, and frequently something impertinent, to say about animal welfare issues. Certainly, we all owe him a debt of gratitude in highlighting those issues. This Bill is the most significant and comprehensive proposal for animal welfare legislation for nearly a century and it fulfils a commitment that we made in our last manifesto. It promotes a positive duty to ensure the welfare of animals, and brings the law on pets up to date with the law on farmed livestock. It increases the penalties available for the most serious offences while closing an existing loophole, and brings together and simplifies more than 20 pieces of legislation. The Bill is the result of some four years work by my Department, beginning with a public consultation in 2002. The subsequent draft Bill was given pre-legislative scrutiny in 2004 by the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to whose work I pay tribute. The Committee heard representations from many parties, including the Welsh Assembly, and worked intensively to produce its report. The Government have listened carefully to its recommendations and have made a number of important changes as a result. The Bill that we are discussing today is undoubtedly better as a result of that work, and I am also grateful for the follow-up work done by the Committee since the Bill’s First Reading in October. It is also right to acknowledge the substantial contributions made by members of the public, who responded in large numbers to the consultation and to campaigns run subsequently by non-governmental organisations and others in favour of the Bill, and by stakeholders from across society. Since the end of the formal consultation, my Department has had exhaustive discussions with many interested parties to refine policy and to try to improve further the Bill’s drafting. The overwhelming reaction from all those channels—the Select Committee, the public and stakeholders—has been positive, and the Bill has had a very warm welcome. Before I turn to the principal provisions of the Bill, let me comment briefly on the background to it. The linchpin of our current legislative framework is the Protection of Animals Act 1911, which, as the House will appreciate, is nearly 100 years old. In its time, the 1911 Act was a landmark Bill that set out specific prohibitions against human cruelty to animals and proved remarkably enduring—for more than 50 years, Parliament dealt only with relatively minor amending Acts and supplementary provisions. In the 1960s, however, concerns about new farming methods and a better understanding of good husbandry practices led Parliament to pass the Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1968. That Act was a further landmark. For the first time, the law moved beyond simply regulating cruelty and created a positive regulation-making power to promote the welfare of animals. That power, however, was limited to the welfare of farm livestock. Since then, Parliament has passed major laws on animal health and scientific procedures, but the 1911 Act, supplemented by the 1968 Act and some 20 others, remains the platform for animal protection legislation. After 90 years of evolution, it is clear that our existing law is excessively complex and inaccessible, written in the language of an earlier age, and—more important—unnecessarily inconsistent in the standards that it sets. In particular, it has failed to keep up with scientific advances. Since the 1960s, research into the behaviour and physiology of individual species has greatly improved our understanding of the sheer complexity of animal welfare. The pace of scientific progress is expected to quicken in the years ahead, requiring flexibility in both policy-making and legislation. In respect of livestock, the power to make regulations under the 1968 Act allows the Government to respond to scientific developments and evolving welfare standards set by, for instance, the European Union. In respect of pets, however, the inflexibility of the 1911 Act requires the Government—or, indeed, Members—to present amending Bills to effect change. Given the competing priorities for parliamentary time, that asymmetry means that protection for pets is lagging behind protection for farmed animals. The Bill creates a more flexible statutory framework. It sets out key principles, but leaves detailed matters to secondary legislation. The Government believe that that flexibility is critical if our legislation is to keep pace with the expected advances in animal welfare.