Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill

Henry Smith Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 25th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity briefly to participate in this important Second Reading debate on the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, and it is a great pleasure, as always, to follow my hon. Friend the Member for South West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous).

It has been really heartening this evening to hear people from across the House, the political divide and the United Kingdom supporting the Bill. Yes, there have been some nuanced differences on some of the provisions proposed by the Government, but the unifying aim of this House has been to significantly advance and improve animal welfare standards. I hope that those differences can be worked out in Committee and on Report, as well as when we listen to the Minister’s response in a few minutes’ time.

For example, the fact is that research and conservation really do need to be at the heart of what zoos do best. We have heard some wonderful examples this evening of zoos around the country that contribute worldwide to that effort. When it comes to keeping primates, the view of some in the House is that there should be a complete ban, and others think that there should be a licensing system, as the Bill suggests. The desire is to significantly improve the wellbeing of these highly intelligent and complex animals.

I am particularly pleased that livestock worrying is being addressed, although I have some sympathies with what has been said. The fines and the action proposed could perhaps be improved and sharpened up further still to make this a really effective piece of legislation. I am vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on animal welfare, which has been looking at the issue for some time, and I am pleased that it is very much central to this Bill.

It is great that the Bill addresses the importation of puppies, and the practices of docking tails and clipping ears. However, perhaps in Committee we could look at the number of puppies brought into this country privately, and at reducing that number to a more realistic figure.

Principally, I welcome the ban in the Bill on live animal exports for slaughter and for fattening. This is something my late mum was a great campaigner on many years ago, and it is so heartening that now that we have left the European Union, we are able to introduce this ban. To reflect the comments of hon. and right hon. Members from across the House, there is a potential loophole in the export of animals to the continent through Northern Ireland; it is important that we look to address that. Reducing the journeys of animals is also good for our environment and carbon footprint, and we have heard about the economic benefits. The ban on the live export of animals does not cover poultry, and I would be grateful if the Government looked at that.

I mention poultry deliberately, because on 22 September I had a ten-minute rule Bill, the Hen Caging (Prohibition) Bill, which is known as Beatrice’s Bill after a rescued hen. This is really very poignant for me, because our late, dearly loved colleague from Southend West, Sir David Amess, was a co-sponsor of that Bill. He sat about here on these Benches as I presented that Bill to the House, in support, and his last comments in this House on the record in Hansard were, very typically of his character, kindly supportive of the measures in that Bill to end so-called enriched cages.

Battery farming for hens was banned in this country in 2012, but enriched cages are not much bigger, and they present many animal welfare concerns. The hens are not able to display their natural behaviour. Millions of hens still live in those conditions, despite many of our main retailers, wholesalers and other suppliers moving to a commitment to 100% free-range eggs. I therefore find it poignant to mention the importance of those provisions, something that Sir David—our dear friend—cared about so much, as he did about so many other subjects that we have heard about in the last week. Last Monday, I did not have an opportunity to pay my respects and tributes to him, and I am grateful for the opportunity to do so now.

I am glad that this has pretty much been a debate of consensus. “Erskine May”, our rulebook, which sits on the Table, says that it is out of order to make farmyard noises in this House. Madam Deputy Speaker, I am glad that we have not had to resort to that this evening.

Oral Answers to Questions

Henry Smith Excerpts

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Prentis]

The Government are committed to the neonicotinoid restrictions that we put in place in 2018, and to the sustainable use of pesticides. I believe that the hon. Gentleman was a signatory to the letter that we answered in January this year. As we set out in our letter, when making decisions on pesticides we took advice from the HSE, from the expert committee on pesticides and from DEFRA’s own chief scientific adviser. The specific exemption that the hon. Gentleman has referred to was for a non-flowering crop that is grown only in the east of England, to protect against possible aphid predation, which we were very concerned about at the time. I share his relief that it was not necessary to use neonics on that occasion, and I would ask him to welcome the fact that the authorisation was strictly controlled. We put in place a reduced application rate and a prohibition on growing flowering crops afterwards. I am pleased that it was not necessary to use it on that occasion.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

What steps he is taking to help protect communities against flooding.

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

What steps he is taking to help protect communities against flooding.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Rebecca Pow)]

The Government are investing a record £5.2 billion to better protect 336,000 properties from flooding and coastal erosion over the next six years. Alongside that, we recently announced that 25 areas will receive a share of a further £150 million for particularly innovative projects dealing with flood resilience and pioneering many things that we think we will learn lessons from. Our long-term policy statement outlines our ambition to create a nation more resilient to flooding and coastal erosion and we are taking a whole range of actions to forward that.

[Henry Smith [V]]

I pay tribute to this Government for the significant flood mitigation investment that has been delivered. What discussions has my right hon. Friend the Environment Secretary had with our right hon. Friend the Communities Secretary about not building new homes on flood-risk areas, such as the proposed west of Ifield development?

[Rebecca Pow]

As my hon. Friend will know, national planning policy provides clear safeguards for protecting people and property from flooding, and the national planning policy framework is very clear that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided by directing development away from areas at the highest risk. Where development is necessary in such areas, that development should be made safe for its lifetime without increasing flood risk elsewhere, and should be appropriately flood-resilient.

Oral Answers to Questions

Henry Smith Excerpts

Thursday 21st January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Selous]

I know that my hon. Friend works tirelessly for the people of Dewsbury. I and the staff of the Church Commissioners have met him to discuss this issue. Although the planning application is yet to be determined, it is in line with the strategic objectives of the Kirklees development plan. It will not only bring much-needed new homes to his area, but new employment opportunities and new public open space.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

What steps the Church of England is taking across the worldwide Anglican Communion to tackle the persecution of Christians during the covid-19 pandemic.

[Andrew Selous]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for being one of three Members today to raise this vitally important issue. The Church is grateful for the Government’s continuing commitment to implement the Bishop of Truro’s recommendations on this issue. In this week of prayer for Christian unity, we need to be especially mindful of persecuted Christians all around the world.

[Henry Smith [V]]

What discussions has the Church of England had with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to ensure that covid-19 international assistance aid reaches all in need and is not abused by discrimination against Christians, which has appallingly occurred in some countries?

[Andrew Selous]

Last year, officials from the Church had regular meetings with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office—both Ministers and staff—where concerns were raised that covid-19 was being politicised and that minority communities were indeed being discriminated against. Bishops regularly raise this issue in the other place as well, and I can assure my hon. Friend that the Church will continue to engage with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office as the need arises.

Oral Answers to Questions

Henry Smith Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2020 Commons Chamber

The right hon. Member for East Hampshire, representing the Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body, was asked—

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

What assessment the sponsor body has made of the potential merits of establishing the parliamentary estate and its immediate environs as a planning authority.

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire)]

The sponsor body has not assessed the merits of the approach recommended by my hon. Friend, but that was considered by the Joint Committee on the Draft Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal) Bill. It recognised that there was no easy way to streamline the process but that engagement is key, and that is the advice that the programme seeks to heed.

[Henry Smith [V]]

I encourage the Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body to look again at Parliament creating itself as its own planning authority, as in the past there have been difficulties carrying out parliamentary works when that has involved Westminster City Council, the Greater London Authority and others. I believe that that would create a much easier method for restoration and renewal. Will my right hon. Friend look at this issue again?

[Damian Hinds]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Of course, wider planning considerations affecting the parliamentary estate are a matter for the parliamentary authorities rather than the programme itself. I just mention that enacting the change that he mentioned would require primary legislation or an amendment to the Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal) Act 2019, which, as they say in House business management circles, would have to compete against other priorities.