Animal Welfare (Sentience) [HL] Bill

Written evidence submitted by the RSPCA (AWSB01)

Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill (HL) Committee, Call For Evidence

Summary

The RSPCA strongly supports the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, which we believe will help to restore the UK as a world leader regarding animal welfare. It will enable animal welfare impact assessments around Government policymaking, deliver on manifesto and Government commitments, and replace the only piece of legislation that was not carried over when the UK left the EU on 1 January 2020.

The Bill does three important things; it (i) defines which animals are currently considered to be sentient; (ii) agrees that Government departments need to take into account, but not prioritise, the welfare of sentient animals when making policy decisions; and (iii) sets up a Committee to assess how Government pays regard to the welfare needs of sentient animals and balances these against public interests within policy decisions.

It is also important to clarify what the Bill does not do. It does not stop lawful activities such as shooting, ‘pest’ control [1] , religious slaughter [2] or animal experiments from taking place. It has no powers to do this, and nor does the Animal Sentience Committee (ASC) that is set up by the Bill. There are no existing Committees that would be able to perform the functions of the ASC. The Bill does not increase the chance of the Government being judicially reviewed. The Government was very clear that the Bill was specifically designed to limit judicial review, by ensuring that the focus is on the actions of the ASC. The Bill thus does not alter at all the position on judicially reviewing Government policy.

This legislation has been discussed for over six months in the House of Lords, where it had cross party support and was improved upon to widen the definition of which animals are currently considered to be sentient. The RSPCA supports the inclusion of decapod crustaceans and cephalopods within the scope of the Bill, following a groundbreaking review of the scientific evidence for sentience in these animals. A majority of the public polled supports this Bill and the establishment of the ASC. [3]

About the RSPCA

The RSPCA is pleased to respond to this call for evidence on the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill. The RSPCA is the oldest and largest animal welfare organisation in the world. It has vast experience of both front line and policy work related to all of the topics covered in this Bill, and undertakes the vast majority of enforcement work under existing animal welfare legislation, predominantly the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The RSPCA worked closely with the UK Government in 1997 when, as the Presidency of the EU, it proposed the inclusion of animal sentience within the Treaty of Rome.

Animal Sentience Committee

1. The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill draws across Article 13 from the Lisbon Treaty, the only legal act that was not transferred when the UK left the EU in 2020. The UK Government was clear in the Lords that, whilst other Committees may exist, none do the work that the ASC will undertake, namely to assess how Government policy was formed taking into account the welfare of sentient animals balanced against public policy needs3. However, to ensure efficiency, the Government has set up an Animal Welfare Centre of Expertise (AWCE) which includes all the existing Committees sponsored by Defra, so ensuring consistency among them and sharing of membership where applicable. The ASC will also recognise the Home Office-sponsored Animals in Science Committee, to avoid duplication of its functions. The annual cost of the ASC will be less than £0.5 million, which is in line with other, similar Committees.

2. The Committee’s Terms of Reference explain that it has the ability to set its agenda and reports (Clause 2(1)) and will produce eight to twelve reports annually [4] . There is no legal duty on Ministries to act on the Committee’s conclusions regarding how they pay regard to the welfare needs of sentient animals when making policy decisions. Whilst it is expected that Defra will circulate advice to other Ministries on how they should respond to the Committee, the only apparent sanction set out in the Terms of Reference is that the Committee can record non-cooperation in its report. The RSPCA would prefer a legal duty for Ministries to engage and consult with the Committee.

3. The Secretary of State has to respond to the Committee’s report within three months (Clause 3(1)) by a written report. As a report may not result in a Parliamentary debate, the RSPCA proposes that the Secretary of State should also be mandated to give an oral response to a report from the Committee. This will ensure that there is time for an exchange of views on the Committee's report, and to enact and implement any lessons learned.

4. The RSPCA is content with the Bill, but would like to set out some points in the remainder of this document which we believe may be raised in Committee, as they were discussed in the Lords and raised in the 2nd Reading in the Commons.

5. The Bill does not stop lawful activities such as shooting, ‘pest’ control [5] , religious slaughter [6] and animal experiments from taking place. It has no powers to do this and nor does the Committee that is set up by the Bill. The Committee’s job is simple, namely to review any Government policy that could impact on animal welfare and assess how the Government took into account the welfare of the sentient animals that were impacted. The Committee will publish a report and the relevant Ministers are expected to take this into account, although they are not legally bound to act on it, when making future decisions.

6. The Bill does not increase the chance of the Government being judicially reviewed. The Government was very clear that the Bill was specifically designed to limit judicial review, by ensuring that the focus is on the actions of the ASC. The Bill thus does not alter at all the position on judicially reviewing Government policy.

7. The Bill improves upon Article 13 in the Lisbon Treaty by removing exemptions that previously applied to activities such as cultural practices that cause unacceptable and avoidable animal suffering (e.g. bullfighting), and setting up a clear process through the Committee to assess the impact of policy decisions on animals. This was the UK Government’s original proposal in 1997 and such a process is analogous to the environmental impact assessment that is already successfully implemented in the UK.

8. Like many other organisations, the RSPCA strongly supports the widening of the Bill’s scope to include decapod crustaceans (e.g. crabs and lobsters) and cephalopods (such as octopuses and squid). This is based on a review, commissioned by Defra, of the scientific evidence for sentience in these animals which was undertaken by an expert working group at the London School of Economics and Political Science [7] . Widening the scope of the Bill does not have any immediate impacts on other legislation such as the Animal Welfare Act 2006, or the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing Regulations (WATOK) [8] , both of which apply only to vertebrates. Nor will it immediately impact on the Animal (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, which applies to vertebrates and cephalopods. Any changes to these laws will require separate processes outside of the enactment of the Sentience Bill.

9. The majority of animal welfare issues are devolved and the Bill will only apply to policies in England. Scotland already has a Animal Welfare Commission [9] which has given an opinion on animal sentience. It will be the responsibility of the Scottish and Welsh Governments to introduce, or augment, their own Committees to examine the extent to which their Governments are balancing the welfare needs of sentient animals against public policy considerations.

January 2022