Clause 9 - The Registrar
Hunting Bill
8:55 am
Mr Hywel Williams (Caernarfon, Plaid Cymru)
We are not short of disagreements on hunting, as we have seen during the past few days, and we are not short of people who will take up defensive positions on hunting. As has been said many times, although hunting is not the most important issue before the House, it must be settled in a way that will last. When replying on Tuesday, the Minister said that he wanted the legislation to be practical and enforceable.
The Bill as drafted will establish a registrar and tribunal on an England and Wales basis. The amendments would lead to the appointment of a registrar for Wales by the National Assembly for Wales, who would comply with any new regulations made by the Assembly, and the establishment of a hunting tribunal for Wales alongside one for England. The register would be available in Welsh. The National Assembly for Wales would make regulations about the form of registration and cases from Wales would be heard in Wales. The amendments would replace references to the Secretary of State with references to the National Assembly for Wales and provide for the use of the Welsh language in Wales.
If accepted, the amendments would improve the chances of the successful and practical application of the law in Wales. There would be a greater likelihood of the law being willingly accepted by all parties involved. The bodies that would make decisions on
hunting questions, especially in difficult cases, to which the Minister has referred, would be seen to be answerable directly to the elected body that deals with the majority of rural affairs in Wales—the National Assembly.
The Minister said, in Hansard, on 16 December:
''The registrar and tribunal will be required simply to interpret the legislation as similarly appointed tribunals do in other spheres, such as employment and housing.''—[Official Report, 16 December 2003; Vol. 396, c. 580.]
A Wales-based registrar and tribunal would be better able to interpret the legislation, with their particular knowledge and experience of hunting issues in Wales. What is serious damage to the flock of a Welsh hill farmer on marginal land might be different from what is serious damage to a farmer in East Anglia. Biological diversity is just that—diversity. A Welsh registrar and tribunal would be more likely to have the knowledge and experience to interpret the law in such particular cases.
The amendments aim to promote the efficient application of the law and to secure the greatest possible relevance and legitimacy for people in Wales who will have dealings with the registrar and tribunal. That would be superior to dealing with a registrar and tribunal that are national for England and Wales, to use the Minister's formulation.
I do not intend to list all the ways in which rural life in Wales is unique. The Government accept that it is different from rural life in England and that it needs to be dealt with in ways that are relevant to Wales. In recognition of that fact, the National Assembly for Wales has been given wide responsibilities for rural affairs.
However, farms are smaller, the average age of the Welsh farmer is 58, farm incomes, on average, are half what they are in England and there is much upland farming, which is economically marginal and may be severely affected by fox predation. In many cases, foxes are hunted on foot by groups of local farmers as a matter of utility, not for sport or recreation. The particular circumstances in Wales are partly recognised in the Bill under clause 12(2).