Animal Welfare Bill

My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments Nos. 11 and 12, in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Byford, which are grouped with this amendment. Clause 11 sets out to regulate the transfer of animals to those under 16 through selling them or offering them as prizes. Subsection (3) specifically outlaws the making of an arrangement by which someone who is reasonably believed to be under 16 is given a chance to win an animal as a prize. Subsection (5), however, excludes an arrangement made in the absence of the potential prize-winner, provided that the party offering the prize has reasonable cause to believe that a responsible adult agrees to the arrangement. The idea of offering an animal as a prize to someone whom one has not seen and whose circumstances one does not know is abhorrent to most people—and even goldfish have come in for a tide of sympathy recently, although, as the noble Lord, Lord Pendry, has shown us, there are good arguments for defending the practice. In Committee, the Minister referred to the sorts of competition that, for example, are run in a horse magazine to win a pony. As I said, offering a sentient being as a prize to a person whom one has not met and about whose circumstances one has no knowledge, but who one has reason to believe is under 16, is not acceptable to many or, I hope, most people. If a magazine were to do that, the likelihood is that there would be a written entry containing a name and address so that a responsible competition manager would be able to check with an adult before dispatching the animal, whether by courier or in a horsebox. On the internet, however, things are not so black and white, and any Bill concerned with animal welfare must be framed to take account of the more modern ways in which all sorts of deals are struck. By what means will a competition ensure that a child who posts a winning entry has the permission of a responsible adult to accept the prize? The Minister continued his response in Committee by saying: "““Those under 16 should not be able to win such competitions unless they have the consent of a responsible adult””.—[Official Report, 24/5/06; GC 241.]" That is my point entirely. However, he did not enlighten us about how, over the internet, such a possibility would be outlawed and the award of the animals monitored.