Written Question

Horse Racing: Animal Welfare

Wednesday 24th April 2024

Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to direct the Horse Race Betting Levy Board to increase the proportion of the levy for aftercare provision for vulnerable horses leaving the racing industry.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is aware of the vital work the horseracing industry does in supporting and retraining former racehorses. However, we have no current plans to direct the Levy Board to make amends to levy schemes.

The Horserace Betting Levy Board’s expenditure covers all its three statutory purposes, all of which support horse welfare to some extent, with one of their goals to drive high quality care and support for the horse in Racing. In total, the Horserace Betting Levy Board spends around £3.5 million annually on horse-related areas, such as educational research and on a number of horse welfare projects. The Levy Board funds the Retraining of Racehorses charity, which is British Horseracing's official charity for the welfare of horses who have retired from racing.

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is responsible for the safety of horses at races in Britain and works with animal welfare organisations like the RSPCA and World Horse Welfare to keep racecourses as safe as possible for horses. The British Horseracing Authority created a cross-industry Horse Welfare Board in April 2019. The Board makes recommendations including a multi-year strategy for improving welfare. In February 2020, the Welfare Board published its five-year strategic plan for the welfare of horses bred for racing. The strategy focuses on the ambition that every horse bred to race should lead – and be seen to lead – “a life well-lived”. The Horse Welfare Board is funded by the HBLB and The Racing Foundation.

Furthermore, in April 2024 the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and Great British Racing (GBR) launched a new campaign, HorsePWR, designed to promote the facts around welfare in horseracing and challenge and correct inaccurate information shared by people who are opposed to it.

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Written Question

Ragwort

Monday 15th April 2024

Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that ragwort is removed from (a) roadside and (b) other land for which the Highways Agency is responsible.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

National Highways recognises that ragwort poisoning can have a devastating effect on horses, as well as being damaging to cattle and other animals. However, in the right place, and where there is no risk to animal welfare, ragwort contributes to the biodiversity of the flora and fauna of the countryside.

On the strategic road network, where ragwort presents a high risk of poisoning horses and livestock or spreading to fields used for the production of forage, National Highways prevents ragwort spreading. National Highways policy for Common Ragwort control applies Defra’s ‘Code of Practice on how to Prevent the Spread of Ragwort’.

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Departmental Publication (Transparency)
Home Office

Apr. 12 2024

Source Page: Non-technical summaries granted in 2024
Document: Non-technical summaries: projects granted in 2024, January to March (PDF)

Found: plasma of hyperimmunised animals, usually horses.

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Select Committee

Inquiry into Veterinary Medicines and The Windsor Framework: Roundtable meeting with Northern Ireland based stakeholders, 1 February 2024, Belfast - Note of discussion

Engagement document Apr. 09 2024

Committee: Windsor Framework Sub-Committee

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

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Select Committee

Second Report - Pet welfare and abuse

Report Apr. 05 2024

Committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (Department: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Found: Second Report - Pet welfare and abuse HC 161 Report

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Deposited Papers

Apr. 04 2024

Source Page: I. Office of the Parliamentary Counsel drafting guidance. 112p. II. Letter dated 26/03/2024 from Penny Mordaunt MP to the Deposited Papers Clerk regarding updated drafting guidance for deposit in the House Libraries. 1p.
Document: Drafting.pdf (PDF)

Found: EXAMPLEWhere an animal is taken into possession, a magistrates’ court may order— (a) that specified treatment

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Select Committee

Correspondence from the Secretary of State, relating to the Work of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, 20 March 2024

Correspondence Mar. 21 2024

Committee: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee (Department: Northern Ireland Office)

Found: On horses specifically, I know that last year there were nearly 3,500 registered and 360 unregistered

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Departmental Publication (Transparency)
Ministry of Defence

Mar. 19 2024

Source Page: FOI responses published by MOD: week commencing 18 March 2024
Document: Joining the Royal Navy with spinal surgery for Scheuremann's disease (JSP 950) (PDF)

Found: is a requir ement to access all available information on an individual’s employment, career, welfare

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Departmental Publication (Statistics)
Ministry of Justice

Mar. 19 2024

Source Page: Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: June 2023
Document: (Excel)

Found: suffering (Reclassified)SNMSummary non-motoring108a Animal Cruelty under sections 4-8 under Animal Welfare

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