Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill
(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)
Read Full debateFriday 3rd February 2023
(1 year, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberAnimals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 Read Hansard Text Watch Debate
This text is a record of ministerial contributions to a debate held as part of the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 passage through Parliament.
In 1993, the House of Lords Pepper vs. Hart decision provided that statements made by Government Ministers may be taken as illustrative of legislative intent as to the interpretation of law.
This extract highlights statements made by Government Ministers along with contextual remarks by other members. The full debate can be read here
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Trudy Harrison)
I, like other right hon. and hon. Members in this House, wish to pay tribute to, and thank immensely, my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford (Angela Richardson) for all her hard work on this Bill. I also thank my officials across the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for supporting her. Perhaps I can give her some comfort: I introduced, as a private member’s Bill, the Wild Animals in Circuses Bill. In 2019, with the support of Government, that Bill received its Royal Assent. These private Members’ Bills and sitting Fridays really make a tremendous difference.
My hon. Friend set out, somewhat graphically, exactly why we in DEFRA are supporting this important Bill. If anyone is in any doubt about this, then they should review the work of Save the Asian Elephants. I understand why people, especially parents, would want their children to have some experience of a wild animal—I myself am a mum to four girls. However, the clue is in the description: it is important that the experience is about observing, not forcing the changed behaviour of a wild animal to enable our up-close and wholly unnatural experience.
The hon. Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport (Luke Pollard) talked about dolphins. Although we are looking, with this Bill, to develop primary legislation, secondary legislation will give us the opportunity to be specific about the species, and I will go into further detail on that later in my speech. My hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool South (Scott Benton) made reference to the Wild Animals in Circuses Act 2019. I will take up his invitation to visit the zoo that does so much good work in Blackpool, and thank him for supporting the Bill.
We see the Bill as an important contribution to our ambitious animal welfare reforms that we have been making since this Government came to power. I manage 40 workstreams on our animal welfare action plan. All are making considerable progress, but there is no provision within the law to regulate the advertising and sale of animal activities abroad. That means that unacceptably low welfare activities can currently be advertised to tourists by domestic travel agents.
The hon. Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport and I share a common history, because I, too, worked as a travel agent. I know that it is difficult to understand whether an activity, which seems incredibly desirable, offering as it does a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, is high or low animal welfare.
The Bill will ensure clarity. Animals used in the tourist trade are often subjected to brutal and cruel treatment to ensure their compliance. Our concerns relate not just to the activities themselves, but to the severe training methods that are used to train and sometimes force the animals to behave in the desired way. Any change we can make here in the United Kingdom to raise animal welfare standards across the globe is a positive.
In response to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford about influencers, with the knowledge that we now have about animal welfare, the unacceptable treatment of animals for human entertainment cannot be condoned and such influencers absolutely depend on their followers. I am sure that the work that has been done to date, and the fact that we are gathered in the Chamber to speak about the need for wild animals to have high animal welfare, will send a strong message.
The Government take the welfare of all animals seriously and are committed to raising standards of animal welfare both at home and abroad. Introducing domestic advertising bans sends a strong signal from the Government that the only acceptable tourist attractions are ones where the animals do not suffer and that contributes to the UK’s position as a world leader on animal welfare. To date, the Government have carried out ambitious reforms that we committed to in the 2021 action plan for animal welfare. They include the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021, the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022, the Animals (Penalty Notices) Act 2022 and the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022. We are also pleased to support the private Members’ Bills on shark fins and trophy hunting.
More specifically on low-welfare animal activities, the Government’s action plan for animal welfare stated:
“In line with setting a global example on animal welfare…We will legislate to ban the advertising and offering for sale here of specific, unacceptable practices abroad.”
Alongside Government support for the Bill, there is widespread public support for such measures. World Animal Protection and Oxford University have estimated that up to 550,000 wild animals are exploited in the tourism industry across the globe.
Luke Pollard
The Minister is making a good speech about the importance of the Bill. May I just take her back to the advertising of low-welfare animal products abroad? When the Bill goes to Committee, will she and her officials work with the hon. Member for Guildford (Angela Richardson) to see whether the provision of a digital click through would be captured by the advertising restriction, or, as in some cases in travel law, would it sit outside that? We do not want someone buying a holiday online to have adverts or links that can be clicked to take them to a site outside the UK, where they could buy such activities in the same purchasing period as buying their holiday. Will she ensure that that can be captured, because it could be a workaround that the companies that wish to continue selling the products exploit?
Trudy Harrison
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I will take the Bill through its legislative stages. I reassure him that I understand that that would be beneficial and that I will meet him and look into that with my officials before we go to Committee.
It is clear that the British public do not accept low animal welfare standards. The recent poll conducted by World Animal Protection revealed that 81% of UK respondents agreed that countries should stop the commercial exploitation of wild animals. In the same poll, 85% of respondents believed that wild animals had the right to a wild life.
Sir Christopher Chope
Does the Minister think that the provisions in the Bill could cover, for example, people who go whale watching in South Africa?
Trudy Harrison
To give a very brief answer to a very brief question, my first instinct is, absolutely not because people watch whales in their natural environment behaving in a natural way. The problem comes when we force wild animals to behave unnaturally in captive environments for our benefit up close and personal. As far as I understand it, that is not what my hon. Friend was referring to.
There is no specific reference to Asian elephants in the Bill, but we anticipate they will be covered under the Bill. Alongside the general support for the measures in the Bill, there is particularly strong support for Government intervention in relation to low-welfare activities involving Asian elephants. Asian elephants often undergo brutal training to break them in and make it safe for them to be in the vicinity of tourists. Methods include being chained up for long periods without access to food or water and being beaten with bullhooks to gain compliance. Elephants are often forced into unnatural activities, such as playing football, painting and tourist rides. As Members will have heard last Tuesday in the Adjournment debate secured by my hon. Friend the Member for Crawley (Henry Smith), Asian elephant rides, performances and experiences are often a popular choice with tourists abroad.
In closing, I thank everyone on all sides of the House for their contributions, in particular my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford. She has not just led on the Bill but has had a very busy morning contributing to every single debate, representing her constituents extremely well indeed.
Animal (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill
(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)
Read Full debateWednesday 8th March 2023
(1 year, 1 month ago)
Public Bill CommitteesAnimals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 Read Hansard Text
This text is a record of ministerial contributions to a debate held as part of the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 passage through Parliament.
In 1993, the House of Lords Pepper vs. Hart decision provided that statements made by Government Ministers may be taken as illustrative of legislative intent as to the interpretation of law.
This extract highlights statements made by Government Ministers along with contextual remarks by other members. The full debate can be read here
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Angela Richardson
I thank my hon. Friend for her timely intervention. It is right to add to the list. In fact, if I went through a list, it would be a lot longer than I have time for this morning—I do not want to keep everyone in a cold Committee Room longer than is necessary. Yes, cheetahs are affected as well, as is marine life, including dolphins, which are used for feeding and swimming experiences, as was mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Meon Valley.
Many of us and our constituents will have seen such experiences advertised in the shop windows of travel agents or online, but were not aware of the animal welfare consequences. When we think about low-welfare activities abroad, we first think of the conditions of the animals, but it is important to note that there is a human impact, too. For example, research from Save the Asian Elephants has shown that at least 700 tourists and others have been killed, and more than 900 have suffered sustained injuries, such as crushed chests and internal organs, broken limbs and ribs, and serious head injuries. More widely, experiences involving big cats, marine life and reptiles carry a risk to public safety through the threat of injury and of the zoonotic transmission of disease. The Bill will improve the safety of both the animals involved in tourism abroad and the tourists themselves.
I appreciate that some will be disappointed that the legislation will not cover the whole of the United Kingdom, notably Scotland and Wales. I hope that our colleagues in the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments will be able to introduce legislation in their devolved assemblies that provides a similar framework. Today, we must focus on the first step on that journey, and put the Bill through to the next stage.
Everyone on the Committee and in the House represents a constituency where animal welfare is valued and cherished, as it is in my constituency of Guildford. The Bill will be roundly supported by our constituents. I was pleased to see, both on Second Reading and in an Adjournment debate on the subject in the House in January, that the legislation had cross-party support. There were contributions from Conservative, Labour and SNP Members. I hope that we continue in that cross-party spirit. I look forward to hearing from the Minister and Members on their further views on the Bill.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Rebecca Pow)
It is a pleasure to have you in the Chair, Mr Stringer, for consideration of this incredibly positive Bill. It shows us working at our best. My hon. Friend the Member for Guildford has worked hard on it, and gathered cross-party support for it. I thank her for all that work, and the rest of the Committee and others for their useful input, including DEFRA. Responsibility has swapped between Ministers, but that has meant that we are fully aware of what is going on, and have got behind the Bill.
As we have heard, the Bill enables the introduction of a domestic ban on the advertising and offering for sale of low-welfare animal activities abroad. It provides a framework under which secondary legislation can apply bans to the advertising and offering for sale of specific activities. That is key; it means that different categories of creatures may be looked at individually when serious evidence is brought forward, so that we get the regulations right for each category. There will be parliamentary scrutiny of those regulations, which is welcome.
I will run through each clause of the Bill, although my hon. Friend just did that, just so that this is all on the record from the Minister. Clause 1 makes it an offence to sell any right to observe or participate in a low-welfare animal activity that takes place outside the United Kingdom and that is specified in activity regulations that apply in a relevant part of the United Kingdom.
Under the Bill, an animal activity is considered to be low welfare if the conditions in which the animal is kept or the treatment to which it is subject would be an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in England, or under the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 in Northern Ireland. The power to make activity regulations is conferred on the appropriate national authority, which in England is the Secretary of State and in Northern Ireland is the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, or the Secretary of State acting with the consent of the Department.
The decision about which animals and activities the ban will apply to will be based on evidence, as I mentioned. A ban will be implemented only when compelling evidence of the need for it is submitted. As I say, all activity regulations will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny via the affirmative procedure.
Clause 2 sets out which advertisements would be prohibited under the Bill. If an advert has the purpose or effect of promoting the observation of or participation in a specified low-welfare animal activity that is to take place outside the United Kingdom, it will be prohibited. It also establishes the circumstances in which a person does and does not commit an offence by advertising a low-welfare activity.
An offence is committed if a person publishes a prohibited advert in a relevant part of the United Kingdom, or if they cause such an advert to be published. The key is the way in through such adverts. Similarly, a person commits an offence if they print or distribute a prohibited advert that has been published in a relevant part of the United Kingdom, or causes such an advertisement to be printed or distributed.
A person does not commit an offence if the advert is in a publication—excluding in-flight magazines, which could come into this country—that is printed outside a relevant part of the United Kingdom and whose principal market is not a relevant part of the United Kingdom. If an advert is distributed electronically and the person did not carry on business in a relevant part of the United Kingdom at the time of distribution, then that person does not commit an offence. Likewise, if a person sells a publication to a member of the public that contains a prohibited advert, then that person does not commit an offence.
The bans are important because, as my hon. Friend highlighted, no specific provisions in law regulate the domestic advertising and sale of animal activities that take place overseas. Domestic travel agents can currently advertise activities involving animals abroad that would not be permitted if they took place in England or Northern Ireland. The Association of British Travel Agents has guidelines, but they are not law and cannot be enforced. That is why the Bill will be so useful.
Clause 3 sets out information about the penalties, prosecution and liability for the offence. A person or business in England and Wales who commits an offence under the Bill is liable for a fine, which could be unlimited; in Northern Ireland, they are liable for a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, which equates to £5,000.
Section 127 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 and article 19 of the Magistrates’ Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 do not apply in relation to offences under this Act. That means that the usual six-month time limit within which a prosecution for a summary offence must be brought will not apply. That will ensure that prosecutions are not time-barred in complex cases where data and evidence have to be gathered. That is clearly a helpful provision.
Clause 4 sets out the enforcement powers of local weights and measures authorities in England and the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland. Clause 5 sets out what further provisions may be included in activity regulations made under clause 1. Activity regulations must be made by statutory instrument and, as mentioned earlier, will be subject to the affirmative procedure.
Clause 6 sets out the definition of terms commonly used throughout the Bill, including that of low-welfare activity. Clause 7 sets out the extent, commencement and short title of the Bill.
The Bill extends to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, the provisions of the Bill apply to England and Northern Ireland only. This is a devolved matter, and it will be up to the relevant devolved Administrations to consider whether they would like to bring in a similar framework. We welcome Northern Ireland’s joining in with the Bill. Its provisions will come into force two months after the day on which it is passed.
This Bill is one of many that have come through our Parliament in a few years that demonstrate that we are a caring nation and really mean business on animal welfare. The animal welfare action plan sets out our criteria. We have brought forward an enormous raft of legislation; that is worth noting, as there has been such a focus on this agenda recently. There is the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022; the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022; the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021; the Animal Welfare (Services Animals) Act 2019; the private Member’s Shark Fins Bill passing through Parliament, which I have been part of; and the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill, also going through Parliament. I know colleagues have spoken in debates on it. The Bill before us is another example of just how much we are doing on this agenda, and how necessary the work is.
My hon. Friend the Member for Guildford mentioned the real difference that the Bill will make. It probably comes too late for some of the thousands of poor creatures referred to. There have been ghastly examples given, including of young creatures being taken away from their mums and their mums being killed. Big cats were referenced in one intervention, and dolphins were mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Meon Valley.
Animals (Low Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill
(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)
Read Full debateFriday 17th March 2023
(1 year, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberAnimals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 Read Hansard Text Watch Debate
This text is a record of ministerial contributions to a debate held as part of the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 passage through Parliament.
In 1993, the House of Lords Pepper vs. Hart decision provided that statements made by Government Ministers may be taken as illustrative of legislative intent as to the interpretation of law.
This extract highlights statements made by Government Ministers along with contextual remarks by other members. The full debate can be read here
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Trudy Harrison)
I know how important the Bill is to you, Mr Deputy Speaker, so I am delighted to see you in the Chair.
Today is a tremendous day for animals worldwide. We have been collegiate in this place; I very much appreciate the Opposition’s willingness to work with other Members and me on today’s Bills. We have been incredibly passionate about them. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford (Angela Richardson), who has put so much hard work and diligence into her Bill.
Let me put on record my thanks to the Members who have contributed to today’s debate: my hon. Friends the Members for Wolverhampton North East (Jane Stevenson), for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Aaron Bell), for South Ribble (Katherine Fletcher)—she offered her considerable experience—for Southend West (Anna Firth) and for Clwyd South (Simon Baynes). I was grateful to hear the considerations of the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Leeds North West (Alex Sobel), and I will endeavour to look at them in more detail and work with the RSPCA, as he suggests.
Currently, the domestic advertising and sale of animal activities overseas is not subject to specific legislation in this country—that is exactly what the Bill will do. As my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford eloquently set out, there is little else to say. Domestic travel agents can advertise and sell any overseas animal activities, no matter the relevant animal welfare standards. We have heard first-hand accounts from Members of just how horrific the conditions can be. In low-welfare establishments, cruel training methods are often used to force animals into submission. That allows tourists to get up close and personal with the animals in the form of riding, bathing or taking selfies, to name just a few examples.
Let me emphasise the Government’s commitment to improving animal welfare standards across the globe. The introduction of domestic advertising and sales bans on low-welfare activities abroad would allow us to continue to lead by example on how animals should be treated in tourist attractions across the world. I hope that by passing the Bill we will emphasise that we should not exploit animals for human entertainment, and show exactly why the UK is a world leader in animal welfare.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford set out, in the 2021 action plan for animal welfare, the Government committed to a number of animal welfare reforms. Several Acts have been passed to address the commitments made in 2021, and more Bills are proceeding through Parliament. The legislation already been passed includes the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021, the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022, the Animals (Penalty Notices) Act 2022 and the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022. Just this morning, thanks to the diligence of my hon. Friend the Member for Crawley (Henry Smith), his Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill was passed. That is tremendous progress.
The framework of this Bill will enable secondary legislation to be introduced to ban the domestic advertising and sale of specific low-welfare activities abroad. Let me emphasise that any ban on the domestic advertising and sale of low-welfare activities would capture the specific species and activity, wherever in the world that took place. For example, a ban on low-welfare Asian elephant activities would relate to unacceptable practices involving Asian elephants as a species anywhere in the world—not solely elephants that live in Asia.
Given the short time available, I want to put on record my thanks to campaigners from Save The Asian Elephants, who are in the Gallery, as well many other organisations globally. I also thank my officials, who work so hard, particularly across the animal welfare spectrum, including on the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill this morning and this Bill. Their diligence and professionalism, going the extra mile day after day, is much appreciated by me, by the entire ministerial team at DEFRA and, I think, by Members across this House. Without that hard work, we would not be in this position today.
In conclusion, I thank everyone for their contributions to this debate, especially my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford. I reiterate this Government’s support for the Bill and wish it well as it progresses.
Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill
(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)
Read Full debateFriday 14th July 2023
(9 months, 2 weeks ago)
Lords ChamberAnimals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 Read Hansard Text Watch Debate
This text is a record of ministerial contributions to a debate held as part of the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 passage through Parliament.
In 1993, the House of Lords Pepper vs. Hart decision provided that statements made by Government Ministers may be taken as illustrative of legislative intent as to the interpretation of law.
This extract highlights statements made by Government Ministers along with contextual remarks by other members. The full debate can be read here
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Benyon) (Con)
My Lords, I am grateful to all who have spoken in this debate. I am pleased to be speaking in support of the Bill and to see such interest in this legislation from across the House. I pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Black and his colleague in the other place, Angela Richardson, for the eloquence and passion that they have put into this and the excellent work they have done with a variety of different organisations to make sure that we have some legislation here that will be effective and will reflect both the need and what our public demand, which is ever higher animal welfare standards.
This legislation is welcome, as domestic travel agents are currently able to advertise and sell unacceptably low-welfare activities abroad to tourists without any regulation. The Bill will prohibit the advertising and offering for sale in England and Northern Ireland of tourist-related activities abroad involving animals. The Bill will provide a framework under which secondary legislation may be used to implement bans on specific low-welfare activities abroad, examples of which include riding, bathing and taking selfies with animals. The animals used in such practices are often trained using, as my noble friend said, brutal methods that allow tourists to get within touching distance of them. For any activity to be deemed within scope of a specific ban will involve animals that are kept in conditions or subject to treatment that would not be permitted under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 or the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 2011.
Throughout the Bill’s passage it has been made clear that low-welfare activities involving Asian elephants are likely to fall within the scope of this legislation. There has been especially strong support for a ban to be introduced in this area. Asian elephant rides, bathing and other similar activities are extremely popular with tourists. However, aside from the suboptimal conditions that the elephants are often kept in, what is not seen is the cruel training methods that they are subject to in order to make them a safe tourist attraction.
While close interactions with captive wild animals are seen by many as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, surely it would be far more fulfilling to observe these animals displaying natural behaviours in natural environments in just the way that nature intended. The Bill aims to encourage tourists to visit high-welfare attractions where animals are free to display more natural behaviours and cruel practices are not used to train them for human entertainment.
World Animal Protection’s 2022 report The Real Responsible Traveller states that sanctuaries that are certified by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, and which do not breed for commercial purposes, are likely to offer the highest standards of care to their animals. An example of a high-welfare attraction is ChangChill in northern Thailand, which has become one of the first elephant attractions to transition to an observation-only model. The venue has become a popular tourist attraction, demonstrating that there is a demand for animal-friendly, observation-only tourism.
A scant look at what is being advertised as we sit here today shows quite the opposite in other locations. From the comfort of the UK you can
“pre-book your joy ride on the back of an elephant”
without any knowledge of what that elephant went through in order for you to have an experience that you might think was trouble-free but, clearly, so often is not.
It has been predicted that, as the travel industry picks up following the pandemic, the UK’s outbound travel figures will surpass pre-pandemic levels. It has been estimated that by 2024 up to 86.9 million outbound travel bookings could be made per year. In 2019, 79% of travellers who witnessed animal cruelty said they would pay more for an activity where they knew that the animals did not suffer. However, it is often difficult for tourists to make that judgment on whether the animals they are interacting with are, or have been, subject to cruelty.
I join the noble Baroness in paying tribute to Save the Asian Elephants for the endless work that it has done on this and so many other areas in protecting this extremely at-risk species. Today I also remember my late friend Mark Shand, who set up and ran Elephant Family, which continues to do noble work in trying to create the wildlife corridors that will allow that extraordinary species to survive in its own environment at a time when there is huge human pressure on it, as there is on so many species.
I shall address some of the questions that were put to me by the two noble Baronesses who represent their parties on the Front Bench. The Bill focuses on advertising and sales taking place in England or Northern Ireland, not those taking place abroad. If an advert is distributed by means of electronic transmission and the person does not carry on business in England or Northern Ireland, we could not prevent that from happening—that has to be said. However, we hope that, if we bring in a domestic ban, awareness-raising will influence potential tourists and dissuade them from pursuing unacceptable activities abroad.
The guidance that we are giving to enforcement bodies will be developed for trading standards in England and the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland so they will be able to effectively enforce the Bill. The guidance will be produced as and when specific bans are introduced.
Despite not being UK-wide, the Bill will still make it possible to ban the advertising and sale here of low-welfare animal activities abroad to consumers in England and Northern Ireland. That will send a strong message that these activities are not deemed acceptable.
While it will not be possible to stop prospective tourists purchasing unacceptable activities abroad from a travel agent in Wales or Scotland, the Government hope that consumers living in England or Northern Ireland who are planning a holiday abroad will make a positive decision, in line with the legislation in England or Northern Ireland. We work closely with the devolved Governments in both those countries to make sure that, where possible, our animal welfare policies align. In some cases, they have been a little ahead of us; in other cases, like now, we are a bit ahead of them. But there is an inexorable acceptance that we want sensible animal welfare policies such as this to be UK-wide, and we will continue to work with them to ensure that that happens.
On the question of the “principal market” point, the use of the term “principal market” relates to the market for which a publication is intended. Clause 2(5) is aimed at ensuring that a business is not treated as having committed an offence if a publication is printed and published outside England or Northern Ireland and is not intended principally for a market that includes an audience in England or Northern Ireland. Therefore, the exclusion in Clause 2(5) does not apply to a publication that is printed outside England or Northern Ireland and contains a prohibited advertisement if it is published or distributed in England or Northern Ireland and the publication was principally intended for a market that includes an audience in England or Northern Ireland—I promise your Lordships that that makes sense; I read it through several times before I said it.
I want to make sure that we have legislation that works, and what I say to the House is this: let us not make the perfect the enemy of the good. We have a very tight timetable, particularly for Private Members’ Bills, and if we have to bounce too much back and forward between the two Houses, there is a timing risk. I am not using that as a threat, but just saying that I live in the realities of the timetable. I know that all sides appreciate that. I just want to get this on the statute book as quickly as possible.
The Government will have the ability, through supporting the Bill, to bring forward future targeted bans on low-welfare activities involving animals. The details of these bans will provide clarity to the tourism industry and their consumers on whether specific activities are deemed acceptable or not. With the knowledge of animal welfare that we have as a nation, we must take the necessary steps to steer UK tourists away from entertainment overseas that involves the unacceptable treatment of animals, and instead towards activities where animal welfare is appropriately protected. By disallowing the advertising and sale, here, of attractions abroad involving low-welfare practices, we can also encourage the providers of such low-welfare animal activities abroad to switch to better methods.
No matter how big or small, any change that we are able to make to influence global animal welfare for the better should be seen as a positive move. The Government are committed to raising animal welfare standards worldwide and take such matters very seriously. From the debate today, the importance of animal welfare to us is clear, not only domestically but across the world. I hope that the introduction of this Bill marks a step in the right direction towards fundamental changes in the way that animals are treated in the tourism industry. In closing, I reiterate my support for the Bill and my huge appreciation to my noble friend for bringing it to the House today and to all noble Lords for their contributions to this debate.
Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill
(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)
Read Full debateTuesday 5th September 2023
(7 months, 3 weeks ago)
Lords ChamberAnimals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 Read Hansard Text
This text is a record of ministerial contributions to a debate held as part of the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 passage through Parliament.
In 1993, the House of Lords Pepper vs. Hart decision provided that statements made by Government Ministers may be taken as illustrative of legislative intent as to the interpretation of law.
This extract highlights statements made by Government Ministers along with contextual remarks by other members. The full debate can be read here
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Benyon) (Con)
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Black for his good stewardship of this Bill. I also thank my noble friend Lord Borwick for his engagement on it. I refer the House to my letter of assurance, which has been placed in the Library of the House.