Animal Welfare

Statement

My Right Honourable friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Thérèse Coffey) has made the following Statement.

The UK has some of the highest animal welfare standards worldwide and since 2010 animal welfare has been one of the Government’s priorities.

We have raised standards for farm animal welfare, including by introducing CCTV in all slaughterhouses. We have significantly enhanced companion animal welfare, including by revamping the local authority licensing regime for commercial pet services including selling, dog breeding, boarding, and animal displays. We have brought in valuable new protections for wild animals, including by passing the Ivory Act, one of the toughest bans on elephant ivory sales in the world.

In our 2019 manifesto, we set out an unprecedented package of welfare improvements, many of which we have already delivered. For example, we have increased the penalties for those convicted of animal cruelty; we have passed the Animal Welfare Sentience Act 2022 and launched a dedicated Committee; we have made microchipping compulsory for cats as well as dogs; and we have announced the extension of the Ivory Act to cover five more endangered species.

In 2021, we published our ambitious and comprehensive Action Plan for Animal Welfare. This set out an array of future reforms for this Parliament and beyond, including a ban on the import and export of shark fins, which just last week passed its 3^rd Reading in the House of Lords.

As the Minister updated the House on 25^th May, we will be taking forward the measures in the Kept Animals Bill individually during the remainder of the Parliament. As a first step, yesterday the government launched a four-week public consultation seeking views on a new licensing scheme for privately owned primates in England and new draft standards for the care and management of these primates. The needs of these creatures are extremely complex and by requiring all privately owned primates to be kept to zoo-level standards, we will ban primates being kept as if they were pets.

Following the consultation, we will introduce the secondary legislation this year, quicker than would have been possible had we continued with the Kept Animals Bill. This will deliver on another commitment from our manifesto and our Action Plan.

The government remains fully committed to delivering the remaining manifesto commitments and maintaining our strong track record on animal welfare, both in the course of this Parliament and beyond.