Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has she made of the potential merits of expanding the Police's right of disclosure to include incidents of animal abuse.

The Police National Computer holds all relevant information for prosecutions made for animal cruelty offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Certain organisations, including non-police public bodies such as the Disclosure and Barring Service and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, have access to this information, where appropriate to fulfil their public function. This allows us to securely protect this important information from misuse, but also for it to be available for organisations with a justified need to access the information.

The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme covers all criminal convictions, and police forces may release information under their police common law powers relating to animal cruelty offences if they think this behaviour would pose a risk to the individual seeking the disclosure. We have committed to exploring the potential to expand the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme through the government's Violence Against Women and Girls strategy (VAWG) to other forms of VAWG.