Found: Divergence or the non -availability of medicines would have an impact on animal welfare and supply chains

Found: welfare sector for the measures proposed under the original Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, and

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following concerns raised by farmers regarding changes to the standard of food imports, what steps they are taking to address the impact of post-Brexit trade deals on British farmers.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

All food and drink products imported into the UK, including those from countries we have trade agreements with, must comply with the UK’s import requirements and standards. The independent Trade and Agriculture Commission concluded that our Free Trade Agreements with Australia, New Zealand and CPTPP are consistent with the maintenance of UK statutory protections in relation to animal and plant health, animal welfare and the environment.

Supporting UK food and agriculture is an integral part of the UK’s trade strategy. The Prime Minister made this clear at the Farm to Fork Summit in May 2023 and in his open letter to farmers. This letter, alongside the 2022 National Food Strategy, sets out the principles that guide our approach to agriculture and trade. We are putting farmers at the heart of British trade by delivering new export opportunities, protecting our sensitive sectors and our high food safety standards, upholding UK production standards and removing market access barriers.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 12 July 2023 (HL9069), which stated that “Introducing a close season for brown hares remains an option”, what indicators they are using to assess the necessity of this option, and how frequently they review it.

Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The proposal to introduce a close season for the brown hare, referred to in HL9069, was set out in the Government’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare. In terms of the necessity of a close season from a wildlife conservation perspective, the brown hare is one of the indicator species for our legally binding targets in England to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030 and then reverse declines by 2042. We know that in order to meet these targets we will need large-scale habitat creation and restoration and improved connectivity but this will be supplemented where appropriate by intelligence on individual species. While there are no immediate plans to undertake a national mammal population review as was conducted in 2018, we should get an idea of trends in our brown hare population from published surveys, for example from the British Trust for Ornithology’s mammal recording, which it has been conducting since 1995 with a view to helping improve our knowledge of the distribution and population trends of some of our commoner mammals.

We want the Government to ban the killing of rabbits for human and pet consumption, as well as the import export of rabbit meat. We believe there are poor safeguarding controls for rabbit welfare, and that slaughter methods are barbaric and unethical.

Found: As a nation of animal lovers, with some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world, we believe

We want the Government to create an independent national welfare team to monitor kennels used by police forces. This should include checking that staff are trained to meet the welfare standards in the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and reporting those who fail to meet those standards for prosecution.

Found: This should include checking that staff are trained to meet the welfare standards in the Animal Welfare

The recently published Competition and Markets Authority report has revealed the hold the six corporate shareholder companies have on the veterinary sector in the UK. I believe this is having devastating consequences on animal welfare, animals families and veterinary professionals.

Found: I believe this is having devastating consequences on animal welfare, animals families and veterinary

Found: Attendance at animal welfare meetings within the establishment.

Found: Minimizing the volume of blood collection ca n reduce pain and distress in animals and improve the animal

Found: Food Standards Scotland remains committed to protecting animal welfare and meat hygiene standards at

Found: In the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission’s report it says that a dog bred for racing in Scotland currently

Found: Jim Fairlie MSP The Scottish Parliament Edinburgh EH99 1S P c/o Scottish Animal Welfare

Found: To: Jim Fairlie MSPFrom: Professor Cathy Dwyer, Chair, Scottish Animal Welfare CommissionIn November

Found: To: Jim Fairlie MSPFrom: Professor Cathy Dwyer, Chair, Scottish Animal Welfare CommissionIn November

Found: holding registers), • health and safety advantages including reduced handling of animals and improved animal

Found: Undertook informal pre -licence inspection (under The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to strengthen the ability of (a) local authorities and (b) other relevant bodies to enforce animal welfare regulations.

Answered by Fairlie, Jim

The Scottish Government continues to engage regularly with local authorities and relevant bodies to ensure enforcement of animal welfare regulations.

Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25890 by Siobhian Brown on 11 March 2024, when it will report back to the Parliament on its discussions with Police Scotland, local authorities and animal welfare organisations regarding the identification of XL Bully-type dogs.

Answered by Brown, Siobhian - Minister for Victims and Community Safety

I provided an update to the Scottish Parliament on this issue when I appeared before the Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee on 27 March 2024 to give evidence to the Committee on The Dangerous Dogs (Compensation and Exemption Schemes) (Scotland) Order 2024 .

The Scottish Government is continuing to engage with Police Scotland, local authorities and animal welfare organisations in relation to the new safeguards and this includes in relation to how XL Bully dogs can be identified.

The conformation standard guidance document XL Bully dogs: applying the conformation standard - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) on the Scottish Government website is intended to be used to assist all those involved in the operation of the safeguards relating to XL Bully dogs in Scotland. This includes law enforcement, local authorities, animal welfare organisations and owners of dogs that may be XL Bully dogs.

The conformation standard guidance document also includes a video from ‘Blue Cross UK’ to show how to measure a dogs height.