Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010

My Lords, I have spent a good part of the last half hour talking about dogs, so there is something wonderfully appropriate about moving on to greyhounds, although they are a rather special kind of dog and are open to regulation in a way in which some of us would like with regard to other dogs on occasions. The regulations meet a government commitment, given during debates on the Animal Welfare Bill, to introduce welfare regulations for racing greyhounds. They will create minimum welfare standards for all greyhound tracks in England, without imposing disproportionate burdens on an industry that is already subject to the high standards required by the Animal Welfare Act. We know that welfare groups would prefer regulations that cover many more aspects of the sport. We have listened to those concerns but are confident that the regulations, combined with the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act, will provide significant protection for racing greyhounds. The regulations require all English tracks to meet the same minimum welfare standards. The standards will be enforced either by the local authority, or by a body that has United Kingdom Accreditation Service accreditation as an enforcement body. Our consistent advice to the self-regulated sector of the greyhound industry has been that, to remain self-regulated in the 21st century, it must have UKAS accreditation. We have been assured that the Greyhound Board of Great Britain is on schedule to secure accreditation, and that it will be in place by the end of March. That means that most tracks in England will not require a local authority licence, as their membership of the GBGB and its UKAS accreditation, will ensure that those welfare standards are being enforced. The remaining six or so independent tracks will be required to be licensed by their local authority to the same standards. All tracks will need to have a veterinarian present for all race meetings, trials and sale trials. The veterinarian must inspect every greyhound before it runs and will administer treatment to any greyhound that is injured while running. The vet will also be required to make a record, to be kept by the track, of any greyhound that is injured during a race or trial. These records can be used by the track and the track vet, over the long term, to judge whether there are any improvements that track managers could make to reduce the number of injuries. The regulations will also require that the veterinarians be provided with appropriate facilities to carry out their work. All greyhounds that race and trial at tracks in England will be required to be permanently identified by both earmark and microchip, with the details placed on one of a number of databases that are available to hold such records. The criteria for suitable databases are set out in Part 2 of the schedule to the regulations. The Great Britain Greyhound Board has its own database, with standards that meet the requirements in the schedule, so most dogs will be on one central database. The remaining small minority of greyhounds that race only on independent tracks also need to be chipped and tattooed, but their details will only need to be recorded on a suitable database. Tracks will be required to keep records of all greyhounds that race or trial at the track, and owners and trainers will need to produce ID the first time that the greyhound runs at the track under their ownership. Tracks will also be required to keep kennels for at least 20 per cent of dogs that attend a meeting. The GBGB requires kennels for all greyhounds that race. However, this is aimed at maintaining integrity. We do not believe that we can justify, for welfare purposes, requiring all greyhounds to be kennelled. However, we accept that some kennelling must be available where trainers bring multiple greyhounds to a meeting. It may take independent tracks some time to install such kennels and we have therefore provided a lead-in time for this important requirement. These regulations are a proportionate and targeted response to the welfare problems within the industry. For the first time, a set of standards will apply to all tracks in England. The regulations will ensure greater welfare at tracks where injuries are most likely to occur and will improve the traceability of greyhounds both during and after their racing lives. I commend the regulations to the Committee.