Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

This Bill is the second that the Government are introducing concerning the welfare of animals, and its scope relates to the keeping of animals in Great Britain. We are a proud nation of animal lovers, and we have a strong record of being at the forefront of championing the best standards of care and protection for our animals, both at home and around the world. The UK was the first country in the world to pass legislation to protect animals as long ago as the Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822. Since 2010, we have achieved a great deal. On farms, we introduced new regulations for minimum standards for meat chickens, banned the use of conventional battery cages for laying hens, and introduced mandatory CCTV in slaughterhouses. We have also modernised our licensing system for a range of activities such as dog breeding and pet sales, and banned the commercial third-party sale of puppies and kittens. Our 2019 manifesto outlined how we intend to go further. Earlier this year we published the “Action Plan for Animal Welfare”, laying out how we will ensure that animals, both domestically and internationally, are subject to the highest possible standards of welfare.

A week ago, the House gathered to pay tribute to Sir David Amess. Many hon. Members highlighted his tireless work for higher animal welfare during his 38 years in this House. We will feel his absence today. He typically sat a couple of rows behind me off my left shoulder, sometimes with helpful interventions and often with more challenging ones, but always with a sense of good will and that positive smile even when being challenging.

In particular, Sir David campaigned for many years on the issue of live animal exports. He also campaigned on primates kept as pets and on the puppy trade. I last met Sir David at an event organised by the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation at the Conservative party conference, where he expressed his delight at how many of these issues, many of which will be raised in today’s debate, had moved to the fore. We will obviously miss him. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”]

I thank Lorraine Platt for the work that she has done through the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation to campaign towards several of the measures that we are bringing forward in this Bill. I also take this opportunity to thank the Scottish and Welsh Governments for their contributions to the development of the Bill. Although the provisions in the Bill will not extend to Northern Ireland, I thank the Northern Irish Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for their collaboration and valuable support in helping my Department with the development of these policies.

The Bill focuses on five key areas. First, the Government will take advantage of our departure from the European Union to ban the export of certain livestock and other animals for slaughter and fattening. That will apply to journeys beginning in or transiting through Great Britain to a third country. Many hon. Members have campaigned on this issue, including my right hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers) and my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Craig Mackinlay). We have carefully considered the scientific and expert evidence and the responses to our recent public consultation in England and Wales.

I very much welcome the ban on the live export of animals for slaughter. However, I want to ensure that livestock and breeding stock can come in and out of the country without hindrance. Is the Secretary of State confident, as he brings in that ban, that we can keep breeding stock coming in?

My hon. Friend raises an important point. That is why the Bill relates specifically to animals for fattening and slaughter; it does not include animals for breeding. The Government’s view is that exporting animals for slaughter and fattening is unnecessary; indeed, such journeys are unnecessarily stressful for the animals concerned. Those animals could be slaughtered or fattened domestically, and that could be carried out by means of a shorter or less stressful journey.

The Government’s recent consultation also covered a range of proposals to improve the domestic welfare in transport regime, and the Bill provides us with the power to introduce improvements by means of regulations at a later date. We recently published our response to the consultation, outlining how we will take forward these reforms, working alongside farming and animal welfare organisations. We will carry out further engagement with stakeholders before implementing any reforms, and we will work closely with the Scottish and Welsh Governments to ensure, as far as possible, a consistent legislative approach across Great Britain.

Secondly, our departure from the EU also means that we are able to bring in measures to tackle the serious issue of puppy imports into Great Britain. The number of cats, dogs and ferrets brought into GB through non-commercial and commercial routes has increased significantly over the years. That has been accompanied by an increase in young puppies being illegally landed in the UK. For example, the number of dogs intercepted rose from 390 in 2019 to almost 1,300 in 2020. That problem has been highlighted by many hon. Members in recent years, not least by the Chair of the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish), and by many other members of that Committee.

There is growing evidence that commercial importers currently abuse our non-commercial pet travel rules to bring in lots of puppies at once to maximise profit, and that the welfare of those puppies is frequently compromised. The Bill therefore reduces the number of pets that can be brought into the country for non-commercial reasons by a person who is coming into or returning to the country. The maximum number of pets will be reduced to five per motor vehicle on ferry and rail routes, and three per person where someone is arriving by air or as a foot passenger. That will deter traders from abusing the non-commercial pet travel rules to bring in puppies for onward sale.

I am conscious of how much puppy prices have increased, particularly during the pandemic. While I welcome the reduction to five pets per person, I am a little concerned that if they were five high-value puppies, that may be still be worth a criminal’s while. Will the Secretary of State be prepared to keep that number under review, for higher-value puppies in particular?

My hon. Friend raises an important point. We have an important balance to strike. Obviously, these rules are for non-commercial pets, and there are people who may have several dogs that they travel with. We are trying to strike the balance such that we ensure that we do not have a situation where innocent people travelling with their pets suddenly need a commercial licence, while significantly tightening the regime to prevent abuse of the non-commercial pet travel route.

The Bill includes an enabling power that will allow us to implement further restrictions on the importation of dogs, cats and ferrets on welfare grounds through secondary legislation. We have recently conducted a consultation on the detail of those measures, including proposals to raise the minimum age for importing puppies and to prohibit the import of heavily pregnant dogs and dogs with cropped ears and docked tails. That consultation closed on 16 October, and we will be working to analyse the responses over the coming weeks.

Thirdly, the Bill delivers on our manifesto commitment to ban the keeping of primates as domestic pets in England. Primates have highly complex welfare and social needs, making them unsuitable to be kept in a home environment. I saw the consequences of that myself during a visit to the Wild Futures monkey sanctuary several years ago with my hon. Friend the Member for South East Cornwall (Mrs Murray). I congratulate her on her work in this area—she previously brought forward a private Member’s Bill—along with other hon. Members, including my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Richard Drax), who has also raised this issue with me repeatedly over the years.

People keeping primates outside of licensed zoos and scientific facilities will now need to obtain a specialist primate keeper licence to do so. That new licence will ensure that the only people keeping primates are those able to meet the highest welfare standards appropriate to meet their welfare needs.

I am a member of the zoos and aquariums all-party parliamentary group, which is concerned about what the regulations may look like. Is there a timescale for when they are likely to be brought forward, or even a first draft, so there can be adequate consultation?

My hon. Friend makes an important point. I understand that we are already in discussion with zoos about this change. We will work very closely with them, through the working group, which has already looked at it and recommended it. I recognise that some zoos have anxiety about what it might entail, but I reassure him that we will work closely with the zoo sector.

In conclusion, this is an important year for animal welfare. The Bill sends a very clear message that we are serious about protecting the welfare of animals that are in the care of mankind. I am confident that Members of this House will agree that we have a special duty to kept animals; the Bill is a further important step in improving animal welfare for those. I therefore commend it to the House.

My party has been the party of animal welfare for quite some time, and we welcome the fact that many of the policies in Labour’s animal welfare manifesto have found themselves in the Bill. That is good to see. It is also good to see the Secretary of State in his place making such a good case for the protection of animals. There is a strong cross-party and public interest in us making sure that animals are put first. That has not always been the priority I have heard from those on the Government Benches, and it is good to hear that now from the Secretary of State himself.

The Secretary of State has clearly read a copy of Labour’s animal welfare manifesto. It must be a well-thumbed copy, given how many of our policies appear in the Bill. As such, Labour will support the Bill. It is a good Bill and implements much of what we have been arguing for, for many, many years. However, there are a number of elements in Labour’s animal welfare manifesto that have not been copied over in full. I want to raise a few of them, to make the case for how the Bill can be further improved and to reflect, on a cross-party basis, the concerns of many of our constituents, who want Britain to be the best country in the world for animal welfare and to ensure that all our animals are cared for and respected, because every animal matters.

I have made this offer to the Secretary of State before, and I am happy to make it again: on such a Bill, there should be no need for partisan disagreements, and I hope and would like to work on a cross-party basis, especially in seeking improvements in Committee; we have identified a number that can be made.

I echo the Secretary of State’s words on our fallen comrade, Sir David Amess. He was always a passionate campaigner for animal welfare, and a passionate campaigner on a cross-party basis for animals in general. He is much missed in this debate. I have great sympathy with those who want to name provisions in the Bill after Sir David. I think that passing a good Bill would be a fitting tribute to his passion on this issue.

May I remind the hon. Gentleman that the sanctuary in my constituency is called Wild Futures? He seemed to have forgotten the name, although he has visited it. Can he explain why he is not sticking to the subject of the Bill, but rather making disparaging remarks, which are completely untrue, about sewage being disposed of in rivers?

I am always cautious when I compliment the hon. Lady, and hope she receives it warmly. I trust she will when I next mention her campaigns. Wild Futures is a great place, and the expertise that I saw on show was exceptional. It is not the only place in the country that has been caring for rescued primates, and I hope that continues to be the case. My point about raw sewage is simple: we need to be careful about voting in a way that is so contrary to public opinion, and keeping primates as pets—

Order. I appreciate that the hon. Gentleman is answering a point from the hon. Member for South East Cornwall (Mrs Murray), and I did not want to prevent him from doing that, but he should not have introduced the subject of a Bill that was debated thoroughly last week and should not be mentioned in the context of Second Reading of this Bill.

I understand what you say, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I will contain my remarks to this Bill, but I hope that any whipping and voting on amendments in future will be cognisant of public opinion. On animal welfare, there is strong support for ending the keeping of primates as pets—not for licensing, a “get out of jail free” card, or a small number of very rich owners being allowed to carry on owning primates as pets, but for banning it completely. That is what the Opposition will argue; I look forward to those votes, and I hope that when they come, the Secretary of State will be mindful of public opinion.

I support the measures set out by the Secretary of State on banning live animal exports. That is an issue on which we have campaigned for a long time, and there has been cross-party feeling that they should not happen. I am afraid in recent years we have still seen animals exported, in particular for fattening, and what many of those animals experience in being transported for a long time can be a real concern. I share the concern of the Chair of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish), to ensure that a system is put in place properly and supported by our farming sector, but long journeys on which animals suffer are not acceptable to the British people, and this measure is long overdue, so I support it.

On livestock worrying, what the Secretary of State suggests here represents good progress, but we must ensure that the legislation is as thorough and robust as it can be. My concern with this section of the Bill is that the language is a little bit looser than I would like, and it could be open to interpretation. I encourage him to look in particular at the definitions of animals as being “at large” and under the control of a person, because already concerns are being raised about how that would work in practice and how the measures would be enforced.

On livestock worrying, which the National Farmers Union estimates costs £1.6 million a year—probably more in terms of the emotional costs to farmers—it is important that we ensure the message is clear and precise for anyone doing that, and, importantly, that it fits alongside a right to roam and further access to the countryside for many people. There are tensions here, and clarity of language would make an enormous difference on that.

It is a pleasure to speak on Second Reading of this Bill. I welcome what the Secretary of State had to say, and I welcome what the shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport (Luke Pollard), has said, except perhaps for one or two comments on sewage that were unnecessary on this particular Bill. Both the Secretary of State and the shadow Secretary of State spoke about Sir David Amess. If Sir David were here tonight, he would be joining in this great debate, and it is such a sad loss that we do not have him here.

Let me get straight into the Bill. On the keeping of primates, my hon. Friend the Member for South East Cornwall (Mrs Murray) has done tremendous work on that area over the years. She is a great member of the Select Committee, and we very much appreciate what she has been doing. Since we have been talking about cross-party working on animal welfare issues, may I say that nowhere is that more present than in the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee? I am delighted with all its members, who usually support the work we do.

We need to make the licensing of primates being kept by individuals very strong and ensure that the private keeping of those animals is phased out as quickly as possible. I understand that that will take a little bit of doing, but it is absolutely the right way to go. We have some very good zoos in this country, but sometimes some extra animal welfare requirements are needed, so let us work with the zoos to ensure that we can make them better and improve life for the animals.

On livestock worrying, there is no doubt that there have been a lot of cases. The problem is that some members of the public think the dogs are just enjoying themselves. They may not actually savage the sheep, but they chase in-lamb sheep and cause many complications with lambing. So much of the damage to sheep cannot be seen at the time; it comes later, so we must do everything we can not only to tighten things up and make the process of identifying dogs easier, but to get the message out to the general public about the danger of releasing dogs, especially when two dogs play together and cause huge damage to livestock. Let us try to ask people to be more careful as they walk through fields.

We are looking at opening up the countryside and at an agricultural policy that enables more people to walk in it and enjoy it. I very much want people to do that, but we have to do it responsibly. We must remember that livestock are worried by dogs a lot. I think that people do not altogether realise that, so I look forward to measures being strengthened in the Bill.