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.
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’.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
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 take steps to help ensure that people who neglect their horses are prosecuted.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 amends the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (the 2006 Act) to provide one of the toughest sanctions in Europe and strengthens the UK's position as a global leader on animal welfare. The 2006 Act, as amended in 2021, now means a maximum sentence of five years and/or an unlimited fine will apply to the most serious animal cruelty offences, including causing unnecessary suffering, and is a significant step forward in improving animal welfare.
Local authorities have powers under the 2006 Act to act where a horse is suspected to be suffering on any land, public or private. In such circumstances, the local authority may enter the land and take control of the animal.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department has taken to tackle horse (a) fly-grazing and (b) abandonment.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Control of Horses Act 2015 provides powers for landowners, land occupiers and local authorities to deal with horses placed unlawfully on any land, public or private (including equine abandonments). The 2015 Act allows for action to be taken quickly where horses are placed on land without the land-owner’s permission.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
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 stop the export of horses to Europe for slaughter.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is banning the export of horses for slaughter through the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill which is progressing through Parliament.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
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 impact of his Department's publication entitled Action Plan for Animal Welfare, published on 12 May 2021, on animal welfare in (a) Dewsbury, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has an ambitious agenda for animal welfare and conservation reforms, which we continue to take forward during this Parliamentary session. We will continue to introduce and support legislative and non-legislative reforms where possible.
Since the publication of the Action Plan, we have delivered on key manifesto commitments: we have increased the penalties for those convicted of animal cruelty, passed the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 and launched the Animal Sentience Committee. We have made cat microchipping compulsory and have announced the extension of the Ivory Act (2018) to cover five endangered species. In addition, we have provided for penalty notices to apply to animal welfare offences, introduced new police powers to tackle hare coursing, and banned glue traps.
We are pleased to have introduced the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill to deliver our manifesto commitment to end this trade. The Bill will ban the export of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and horses for slaughter and fattening from Great Britain, stopping unnecessary stress, exhaustion and injury caused by exporting live animals.
In December 2023, the Government laid the Animal Welfare (Primate Licences) (England) Regulations 2023 in Parliament and published the summary of responses to its 2023 consultation on Licensing of specialist private primate keepers in England.
Defra maintains a close working relationship with the zoo sector, and we will continue to build upon this to identify non-legislative improvements. We aim to publish updated zoo standards early this year, which we have developed in collaboration with the sector and the Zoos Expert Committee, which raise standards and support enforcement.
Whilst no specific analysis has been undertaken for individual locations, policies regularly undergo evaluation or post implementation reviews to assess their effectiveness in meeting their animal welfare objectives.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s welfare arrangements regime for the live export of (a) horses, (b) donkeys and (c) ponies.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No such recent assessment has been made. The Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill, currently progressing through Parliament, will ban the live export of horses, donkeys and ponies for slaughter from Great Britain, stopping unnecessary stress, exhaustion and injury caused by this trade.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 bringing forward legislative proposals to regulate the rehoming of dogs.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Action Plan for Animal Welfare sets out our reform programme, including proposals for the licensing of animal sanctuaries and rescue and rehoming centres for cats, dogs and horses. Defra has been engaging with rescue and rehoming organisations to understand their views and the possible impacts of regulating the sector. Any proposals to bring forward licensing regulations will be subject to a consultation.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the number of smuggled animal exports in each of last five years; and whether she intends to bring forward legislation to ban live exports of (a) horses, (b) donkeys, (c) ponies and (d) all animals for slaughter.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No assessment has been made of “smuggled” animal exports.
We will be bringing forward the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill in this session of Parliament. The Bill will ban the export from Great Britain of cattle; sheep; goats; pigs; and horses and other equines, including donkeys and ponies, for slaughter and fattening.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department's planned timescale is for bringing forward legislative measures from the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are introducing the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill in this parliamentary session to deliver our manifesto commitment to end this trade. The Bill will ban the export of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and horses for slaughter and fattening from Great Britain, stopping unnecessary stress, exhaustion and injury caused by exporting live animals. We remain dedicated to delivering our other manifesto commitments that were in the Bill. These are: to crack down on the smuggling of puppies, and to ban the keeping of primates as pets. We have already consulted on primate keeping standards and will bring forward legislation before the end of the year. We also look forward to progressing the non-manifesto measures which will deliver a new offence of pet abduction, update legislation to tackle livestock worrying, and raise standards in zoos. We would be supportive of single issue legislation when Parliamentary time allows. We believe this to be the quickest and most effective way of achieving these aims.