Animal Welfare Bill

I can be brief, because I basically heard my speech being made almost word for word about 15 minutes ago by the noble Lord, Lord Soulsby. That is not a criticism; I am just making the point. We do not think Amendment No. 64 is necessary, because there are sufficient powers in Clause 12 to deal with the issue, should such evidence be obtained. I want to confirm the Government’s commitment to conducting research into these training devices. That is the important point the noble Lord was making, and others have referred to the fact that an attempt to set up a study to assess the effects of both electronic and non-electronic training aids was unfortunately unsuccessful. It has been explained today why that happened. We are currently considering re-advertising the research call through a different process, and information relating to the call will be published in the research requirements document for 2007–08. In the mean time, as the noble Lord has said, Defra has asked the Companion Animal Welfare Council, an independent advisory body, to look at the issue. In response the council has set up a working group to consider all the evidence currently available on electronic training aids and to report on its findings. We will ensure that any research into these areas commissioned by the Government will be put in the public domain. We have made it clear that we are not in the business of banning activities without clear supporting evidence. There are many devices, not just electronic ones, that are capable of harming the animal if used improperly, and there are existing powers to deal with individuals who mistreat animals in this way. However, the key issue here is to see whether electronic collars themselves are harmful to welfare. I have no experience in this area, but I will be interested to find out—I have not asked the officials, as I have just been told it—why the army and the police do not use these devices. I have to have an answer for why that is the case. Given that we are going to do another research call to get over the problems caused by the previous study, and there are obviously some difficulties with the institutions concerned, we have asked the Companion Animal Welfare Council to do some research on electronic and non-electronic training aids. It is a matter that is not necessarily contentious but is very important, and we need some evidence on it. We do not want to go around simply banning equipment, because whatever equipment is sanctioned can always be abused by someone. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Byford, that we do not want a nanny state, but at the same time we are discussing how best we can legislate for animal welfare.