Clause 18 - Orders in relation to animals taken under section 16(5)

Part of Animal Welfare Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 12:00 pm on 24 January 2006.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Bill Wiggin Bill Wiggin Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) 12:00, 24 January 2006

I am grateful to you for lumping amendment No. 70 in with the other amendments to the previous clause, Mr. Gale, because I may need to detain the Committee briefly on this.

Amendment No. 209 would ensure that orders under clause 18 were made only when necessary. Without it, the Bill allows an order to be made that interferes with due legal process by ordering the destruction or disposal of the subject matter of any proceedings. All investigators are bound to preserve exhibits for use in court for examination by the defence. Failure to do so often means that the proceedings are dismissed for abuse of process. Without the amendment, a court could allow the destruction or disposal of an exhibit before the person who was to become the defendant had the chance to have the exhibit examined by his own experts. At the time of the application, he would not know whether there was a need for such an examination. Furthermore, the fact that information has been provided in relation to an offence entitles a defendant to apply for legal aid.

Although I appreciate that there may be a need to treat an animal, and I am certainly not against any animal receiving any treatment that it needs, I am concerned that that would interfere with the defendant’s right to receive due process. Will the Minister explain how he intends the legislation to cope with that anomaly?

Amendment No. 175 is in two parts. The first part would ensure legal consistency by allowing the appropriate national authority to issue guidelines as to how the court was to exercise the powers laid down by subsection (1). Much of the clause will be determined by case law, but I am quite sure that the courts would find it useful if the Government issued some guidance on how to interpret the clause so that there was greater consistency.

The second part of the amendment, which would replace subsection (5), is designed simply to ensure that the welfare of any animal taken into possession is given priority and is certainly given precedence over its   value, which I am sure all hon. Members would agree is a rather crude measure of the importance of an animal.

Clause 18 makes no mention of giving primary regard to the welfare of the animal in question. For example, a court may predominantly examine the financial costs and the animal’s value, rather than give priority to what is right for that animal. In those circumstances, if an animal has a severe but not necessarily incurable illness, the court may determine that it is right to put the animal to sleep, especially if the costs of undergoing treatment are considerable. That may not, however, be the owner’s wish, and the animal should be given the opportunity to live if there is a good chance that it can survive.

Amendment No. 130 would ensure that the animal’s interests were put first, as in amendment No. 175. The RSPCA supports both amendments. Subsection (5) does not explicitly state that the Bill will put the animal’s interests first. I am curious about why matters of value and cost must always come second to the interests of the animal; we should do everything that we can to safeguard animals, even if it means extra costs. It is a responsibility that we undertake as owners of an animal and as a society. Under the duty of care, animal owners are obliged to put the interests of their own animals first, and it would be in keeping with the spirit of the Bill and legally consistent if the courts had to do the same. The amendment would ensure that that happened.