Animal Welfare Bill

moved Amendment No. 9: Page 7, line 43, at end insert- ““( ) An inspector may amend an improvement notice.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, the amendment deals with inspectors and where an improvement notice might be added. It would enable an inspector to amend an improvement notice. It is intended to allow mistakes from simple drafting errors or errors of description to be corrected. Allowing the amendment of an improvement notice will reap benefits for the continued monitoring of animal welfare. It would ensure that, where there was a need to extend coverage of an improvement notice, that could be done by amending the notice. At one stage, I was lobbied and asked whether I would agree to the cancelling of an improvement notice. I was unhappy with that, because the improvement notice gives people time to correct errors in the treatment of that particular animal, and make whatever improvements they should be capable of. In discussion with various groups, particularly the International League for the Protection of Horses, we came up with this amendment to allow an improvement notice to be amended but not withdrawn. One would therefore be transposed with the other: we did not want a cancellation. As I said, the amendment would permit the correction of errors where, for example, the name of the owner is cited incorrectly or the opinion of a veterinary surgeon raises the need to redefine the description of harm. That can be done without the expense of producing another improvement notice. The amendment is specifically drafted so that it will not be possible to cancel the improvement notice. Doing so could obstruct the purpose of the notice. My noble friend Lord Soulsby, who unfortunately cannot be with us today, tabled an amendment that would have made non-compliance with an improvement notice an offence. Our original amendment—then Amendment No. 47—would have allowed the recipient to make an appeal on an improvement notice. I was satisfied at that stage with the Minister’s response but the ILPH has since raised these concerns with me. When the Minister responds, he may also be able to help the House on a case which I brought to him earlier in the year—that of Mrs Diane McCluskey, who found abandoned horses and had great difficulty in having the matter resolved. The International League for the Protection of Horses is very supportive of the Bill and of how it provides a means of avoiding abuse and cruelty to animals and increasing the penalties for those who contravene the law. During the Bill’s passage through the House of Commons some important and welcome improvements were made; so there are very few issues on which further amendments are needed. However, one issue remaining is improvement notices and the ownership of abandoned animals. This small amendment will improve the Bill. The RSPCA has had cases where an original improvement notice has proved faulty and needed to be amended but it could not be. It therefore seems sensible to raise the issue at this stage and to hear the Government’s response. I beg to move.