Animal Welfare Bill

I am delighted to take part in the debate. We have all made comments about the late Tony Banks. I am sure that he would have some comments about those pleasantries, which he would express in his own inimitable way. I hope that the Bill will to some extent be a memorial to his wonderful work in the House on animal welfare. This is a substantial Bill. Some say that it should go further in the sense of, as the hon. Member for North Wiltshire (Mr. Gray) said, clarifying some of the issues that we have debated, but there is some merit in keeping the Bill reasonably lean. I am interested less in the regulatory impact assessment than in the codes of practice. I hope that, if I am selected to serve on the Committee, we will have the opportunity to hear from the Minister what real authority will lie behind the codes of practice. In some respects that will test whether the legislation will be as effective as some of us want it to be. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood (Paddy Tipping), I earnestly hope that the Government are brave in Committee and on Report. Although I am not a ““banner”” by inclination, the Government must make the matter clear. Even if they do not spell out the position in the Bill, they should clarify the situation through their subsequent use of the regulatory process. The issues raised by tail docking, electric collars, pet fairs and circuses, and arising from the treatment of crustaceans, cephalopods, game birds and greyhounds cannot be wished away, and those are just the subjects that hon. Members have mentioned today. If the Government do not want to make their position clear in Committee, they must set out how they will revisit those issues and what they intend to do. As my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Mr. Martlew) has said, there is merit in keeping the Bill flexible, and the right hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Miss Widdecombe) has also referred to the advantages of flexibility. We cannot do everything immediately, although some of us want to. In passing, I congratulate the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on its work. I am a member of the Committee, but I was ill during some of the pre-legislative scrutiny, which the Government have pioneered and which has proved its worth in this case. I welcome the redefinition of cruelty. Unlike the hon. Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry), I think that the Bill clarifies the concept of cruelty in relation to abandonment, neglect and mental cruelty, although those points may require further explanation through challenges in the courts. The Bill contains clear legal judgments that will help us to define how to attack cruelty, and although the five freedoms that form the basis of the duty of care will be tested, we have got a good Bill to fall back on. I pay tribute to the RSPCA, which is clear—this point was borne out by recent briefings—that cruelty is a growing problem. It is difficult to prosecute people under the current legislation, but the number of cases in which the RSPCA is involved is increasing. In her excellent speech, the right hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald discussed how different organisations have faced up to that trend, and it is good to be on the same side as her in that regard, if not in all regards. The RSPCA supports the legislation because of the problems that it faces. Whatever fine words we use in this House, what happens on the ground is most important in the long run. If nothing else, I hope that we can amend the ridiculous idea that a RSPCA inspector must make 25 visits to the most awful cases in order to prosecute someone due to the worst excesses of ownership or the neglect of ownership. The RSPCA inspectors with whom I have been out would welcome clear guidance on the grounds on which they can enter a property, and they are looking forward to the Bill’s enactment at the earliest opportunity. I urge the Government to examine the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, which is parallel legislation to the Bill, because I regularly talk to vets, who want their particular powers to be updated. No doubt the DEFRA team will argue for such an examination as part of the future legislative programme. Vets need their powers, which need to be brought into the 21st century, to be clarified in areas such as charging and responsibility. Concerns have been expressed in the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee about the custody and control of animals, and I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister will put on the record that the Government are sure, having listened to the Committee, that the wording will clarify the issue. Hon. Members have discussed some of the problems, and I shall raise another: given bovine TB, what would happen if someone wants to adopt a friendly badger? What would be that badger’s status if there were a subsequent cull, which might cover a wider area than some of us might want? Such test cases must be thought through very carefully. My hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood has covered some of the issues associated with shooting and fishing, on which various organisations will want the Standing Committee to test the impact of the Bill. The Government have made it clear that they do not want the Bill to impact on shooting and fishing, but the matter will undoubtedly be debated. I am against snaring as a form of animal control, and I hope that we clarify what is allowable—I know where I stand on that issue. The Bill will have cost implications for local authorities, which will take on additional responsibilities, and for the RSPCA. Perhaps we will get some figures about the real cost of the Bill on Third Reading. In conclusion, I hope that the Bill is passed tonight without a vote, which would send a signal to people who want to see the implementation of animal welfare legislation that the House can act unanimously, even if differences and disagreements subsequently arise over the detail. The devil will be in the detail, but this is the right time to introduce the Bill. I congratulate the Government on introducing the Bill and hope that some of the difficult issues are clarified in subsequent debates.