Animal Welfare Bill

The hon. Gentleman has pre-empted part of my speech. He makes a fair point, to which I will refer later. The offence of abandonment must be treated as a specific issue and problem, and it must therefore be highlighted in the Bill. Ultimately, the organisations involved know that the problem of abandoned animals will be eased only when both the supply of animals is better controlled and the responsibilities of the owner better defined and enforced. In terms of supply, therefore, I welcome the provision in the Bill raising the age at which people can buy pets to 16. The law contains a worrying loophole, however, whereby it will still be perfectly legal to allow animals to be given away free with animal-keeping equipment. That is the kind of issue that needs to be addressed. The issue of prizes has also been mentioned. We need to address those matters, tighten up the licensing of pet shops and move with the times to include the internet. I welcome the fact that that will be dealt with in secondary legislation, which I hope will be introduced soon. To echo the comments of the right hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Miss Widdecombe), more emphasis should be placed on educating people as to their responsibilities in owning an animal. How effective will the new duty of care be if owners are not legally obliged or educated to understand what their legal obligation is to ensure that pets will be both properly nourished and housed and have access to proper care where necessary? If that is not communicated at the point of purchase, it becomes irrelevant. I would only disagree with her in that I believe that it is possible, albeit in a limited way, to legislate to do that. I welcome annexe E of the regulatory impact assessment report, which suggests that pet vendors should have to issue a compulsory standard document to anyone purchasing an animal from them, outlining the responsibilities of owning that animal. As has been outlined, there have been serious situations in which people have simply not understood what is involved in owning even a cat or dog.