Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure the welfare of racehorses at the Cheltenham festival in 2020 following the deaths of three horses at the 2019 festival.
Answered by David Rutley
Defra is keen that the welfare needs of racehorses are well met, both during their racing lives and afterwards. The loss of any racehorse is a tragedy.
Since the end of last year, I have been in regular dialogue with the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) about racehorse safety both at Cheltenham and in racing in general. As the BHA are responsible for racehorse safety at tracks, I have not had any direct contact with Cheltenham racetrack.
I have recently written to the Chair of the BHA requesting an update on the cause of the fatalities at this year’s event and why they were not prevented by the policies that were put in place, as a result of the seven fatalities at last year’s Festival. I will also discuss these concerns when I meet the newly appointed independent Chair of the racing industry’s new Horse Welfare Board, Barry Johnson, who is a former Chair of World Horse Welfare as well as a former President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
I am also seeking clarity on the roles and responsibilities of the Horse Welfare Board to ensure that it will be able to make recommendations that the racing industry will implement.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on the timescale for the review of the British Horseracing Authority's review whip sanctions; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Rutley
Defra is keen to ensure that we uphold our high standards of animal welfare including in relation to horseracing. Irresponsible use of the whip is completely unacceptable.
The British Horseracing Association (BHA) requires that whips be used responsibly and jockeys may only use the whip within certain strict rules. The BHA last undertook a review of the whip in 2011. The BHA policy on the whip was drawn up in consultation with animal welfare groups, such as the RSPCA and World Horse Welfare.
Defra understands that the BHA will give further consideration to use of the whip as part of their development of an industry-wide welfare strategy.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that ractopamine-fed pork is not permitted in the UK under the terms of a future UK-US trade agreement.
Answered by David Rutley
The Government is proud of the high food safety and animal welfare standards that underpin our high-quality Great British produce. The UK will maintain its high standards as part of any future free trade agreements.
The UK has transposed EU Council Directive 96/22/EC (as amended) into national law; the ‘Animals and Animal Products (Examination for Residues and Maximum Residue Limits) (England and Scotland) Regulations 2015', with similar legislation for Wales and Northern Ireland, which prohibits the use of beta-agonists in both domestic production and imported products. This protection will continue after we leave the EU.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the UK will continue to test pork for the parasitic worm trichinae under the terms of a future UK-US trade agreement.
Answered by David Rutley
The Government is proud of the high food safety and animal welfare standards that underpin our high-quality Great British produce. The UK will maintain its high standards as part of any future free trade agreements.
Regulation 2015/1375 lays down specific rules on official controls for Trichinella in meat, including the testing of pig carcases, and will be transposed into national law to ensure food safety protection is maintained. This protection will continue after we leave the EU.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the ban on gestation crates for pigs will remain in force in the event of a future UK-US trade agreement.
Answered by David Rutley
The Government is proud of the high food safety and animal welfare standards that underpin our high-quality Great British produce. The UK will maintain its high standards as part of any future free trade agreements.
In the UK, close-confinement stalls for breeding sows have been banned since 1999. The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 requires all sows and gilts to be kept in groups. This protection will continue after we leave the EU.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) pheasants and (b) partridges were kept in raised laying cages for the breeding of game birds for sporting purposes in England and Wales in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by David Rutley
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) does not hold information on pheasants and partridges kept in raised laying cages for the breeding of game birds for sporting purposes in England and Wales. APHA does not hold this information for Bettws Hall Game Farm.
APHA does not maintain year on year statistics for game farms. APHA only takes a register of the number of birds usually kept on a holding, which is supplied at the time of registration by the owner/keeper of the birds.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of (i) pheasants and (ii) partridges kept in raised laying cages by the Bettws Hall Game Farm for the breeding of game birds for sporting purposes in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Rutley
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) does not hold information on pheasants and partridges kept in raised laying cages for the breeding of game birds for sporting purposes in England and Wales. APHA does not hold this information for Bettws Hall Game Farm.
APHA does not maintain year on year statistics for game farms. APHA only takes a register of the number of birds usually kept on a holding, which is supplied at the time of registration by the owner/keeper of the birds.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason he did not attend the recent meeting of EU environment ministers in Luxembourg on cutting CO2 emissions; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce UK emissions following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Special Report on 1.5 degrees.
Answered by David Rutley
Claire Perry, Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), who attends cabinet and is responsible for climate change mitigation, attended the meeting.
Working closely with BEIS, Defra is delivering greenhouse gas emission reductions within the agriculture, forestry and waste management sectors, as set out in the Clean Growth Strategy and the 25 Year Environment Plan.
We are leading the world in our response to the IPCC report. The UK hosted the European launch of the IPCC’s report at the first ever Green Great Britain Week held between 15-19 October. Following the report we have commissioned the UK’s independent advisors, the Committee on Climate Change, for advice on the implications of the Paris Agreement for the UK’s long-term emission reduction target, including on setting a net zero target.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of banning (a) the keeping of primates as pets and (b) the sale of primates as pets.
Answered by David Rutley
Keepers of animals including primates must provide for the welfare needs of their animals as required by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. To assist in this regard, there is the statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Privately Kept Non-human Primates. Anyone keeping a primate as a pet in a domestic setting, or otherwise causing unnecessary suffering, would be in breach of the 2006 Act and liable to a penalty of six months’ imprisonment or an unlimited fine, or both. The Government has announced that the maximum custodial penalty for causing unnecessary suffering to an animal will rise from six months’ imprisonment to five years’ imprisonment.
As of 1 October new laws were introduced regulating the sale of pets. The new laws provide strict minimum welfare standards for any business selling pets. In addition, Defra has worked with the Pet Advertising Advisory Group on the development of voluntary minimum standards for the online advertising of pets, which now include a prohibition on the sale of primates on five of the main online advertising sites.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many times officials in (a) his Department and (b) other Government Departments have met with the British Horseracing Authority in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018 to date to discuss horse deaths on racecourses.
Answered by David Rutley
Whilst officials have not met representatives of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) to discuss racehorse fatalities during the years stated, I am aware that the BHA work alongside animal welfare organisations, such as the RSPCA, and regularly review the safety of racetracks and where necessary, make improvements. The Government is satisfied that the BHA work to make horseracing as safe as possible. Annual statistics on the numbers of racehorses killed on racetracks are available on the BHA website, here:https://www.britishhorseracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Equine-Injuries-and-Fatalities-2017-data-.pdf .
Regarding training fatalities, under BHA rules, all trainers are required to notify deaths of horses to Weatherbys. As part of their work on a new equine database, the BHA are also looking at enhancing the information to be provided in these circumstances.
The Government has been in regular contact with a number of stakeholders about a range of horse welfare issues including those relating to racehorses.