The Government is committed to upholding our world-leading animal welfare standards and to delivering a series of ambitious reforms, as outlined in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare.
The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 enshrines in domestic law the recognition that animals are sentient and creates an expert Animal Sentience Committee, which will advise the Government on how policy decisions should take account of animal welfare. In addition, the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act introduced tougher sentences for animal cruelty, increasing maximum sentences. The Ivory Act came into force in 2022 and has recently been extended to cover five more endangered species.
The Kept Animals Bill, introduced in June 2021, was designed to implement several of the Government’s ambitions for animal welfare. This included banning the live exports of animals, seeking to prevent pet theft, and new measures to tackle livestock worrying. The Bill’s multi-issue nature means that there has been considerable scope-creep, and the Bill risks being extended far beyond the original commitments in the Conservative Manifesto, as well as and the Action Plan for Animal Welfare. Therefore, the Government will now be taking forward measures in the Kept Animals Bill individually during the remainder of the Parliament. The Government remains fully committed to delivering its manifesto commitments on animal welfare.
Since 2010, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has had a strong track record in reforms. This includes: a ban on the use of conventional battery cages for laying hens; mandatory CCTV in slaughterhouses across England; a ban on the use of wild animals in circuses; the strongest ivory ban in the world; mandatory microchipping of dogs; and new regulations for minimum standards for meat chickens; and the modernisation of the licensing system for dog breeding and pet sales.
Finally, the Government supports a series of Private Members’ Bills which will deliver important reforms on animal welfare. These include the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill, which will ban the import of hunting trophies for specific species; the Shark Fins Bill, which will ban the import and export of shark fines; as well as the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill, which will ban the sale and advertising of activities abroad which involve low standards of welfare for animals.