Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010

I shall intercede for a few seconds to give my support to these regulations. I do so on behalf of the All-Party Parliamentary Greyhound Group, of which I am joint chairman. The noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, referred to his past involvement with greyhound racing and I have been involved with it for about 50 years. Consequently, I think I know something about greyhounds and the greyhound industry. I speak on behalf of the parliamentary group in commending this regulation. We do so because we believe that we have made extensive progress over the past few years in the welfare of greyhounds. I concede to the criticism that may be made of greyhounds’ welfare that, years ago, that was not always the case. However, our group has spent considerable time in the past four or five years concentrating on the important issue of greyhound welfare in conjunction with Defra and Ministers, who have come continuously to our group meetings in order us to discuss how we can progress this important issue. I believe we are making good progress. This is a very important regulation, particularly, as the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, said, for the independent tracks—the old flapper tracks—which until recently were not under any control at all. It ought to be recognised that our own parliamentary group and the GBGB, the organisation for greyhounds, have taken a great deal of the initiative to bring about the present situation. When we talk about the independent tracks in this legislation, it is they that we feel ought to have the benefit of the oversight of local authorities. It is fair to say that, under the accreditation system that applies to registered tracks, we already have the high regulations that are included in these regulations. All I urge on noble Lords today is that this is a very important milestone but it is not the end. We have continually to be vigilant about greyhound welfare. We must concentrate, as the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, said, on rehoming, which is very important. A few years ago probably only 25 per cent of greyhounds were being rehomed; I think the figure is now around 80 per cent. But that is still not good enough; we still need to make further progress—and we will do so if we have noble Lords’ support for these regulations today. Incidentally, as we know, the regulations went through the House of Commons this morning, where honourable Members approved them. I hope that both Houses of Parliament give their blessing to these regulations. We shall continue, as an all-party parliamentary group, to represent all our interests, the interests of greyhounds and the interests of those who, as the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, said, enjoy the pleasure of greyhound racing. It is a great sport and many thousands of people enjoy it, but it can only succeed and be a good and happy sport that is pleasurable for people if we know that, at the end of the greyhounds’ racing days, they will have a happy and contented life. We all want to see that. That is why we work in harmony, in B-flat, with the animal welfare organisations to achieve it.