Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions were made under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 relating to the use of inhumane animal traps across (a) England and (b) Wales in each year since 2015.

The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions and convictions made under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in England and Wales, up to December 2019 in the ‘Principal offence proceedings and outcomes by Home Office offence code’ data tool, available here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938554/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2019.xlsx

Offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 relating to the use of inhumane animal traps are included within the offences ‘Causing, permitting or failing to prevent unnecessary suffering’ and ‘Carrying out, permitting, causing to be carried out or failing to prevent prohibited procedure on protected animal’. It is not possible to disaggregate the requested offence from within these general offences. Offences specifically related to inhumane animal traps may be held on court record but can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Using the data tool linked above, enter the following Home Office offence codes into the ‘Offence code’ filter, in order to isolate data on prosecutions associated with each offence:

• 108/29 - Causing, permitting or failing to prevent unnecessary suffering,
• 108/30 - Carrying out, permitting, causing to be carried out or failing to prevent prohibited prohibited procedure on protected animal.

In order to identify breakdowns across England and Wales, use the ‘Police Force Area’ filter and select either all areas of Wales, or all of England.