Include Decapod Crustaceans in the Sentience Bill Campaign Response

Thank you to the many constituents getting in touch regarding animal sentience.  

 

I am proud that the UK has consistently led the way on animal welfare. It was one of the key EU members that lobbied for the recognition of animal sentience in Article 13 of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009 and, in addition, recognised in law that animals can feel pain and suffering through the Animal Welfare Act. 

 

Now that the UK has left the EU, I am pleased that this country has the opportunity to go further to promote animal welfare by making sure that all Government departments consider animal sentience in policy, covering all vertebrate animals from farm to forest. The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, which has now been introduced to Parliament, enshrines the recognition that animals are sentient in domestic law. It also creates a proportionate accountability mechanism to help reassure that central government policymaking takes this into account. 

 

I am encouraged that this Bill will create an Animal Sentience Committee with experts which will produce reports on how well policy decisions have paid all due regard to the welfare of animals. The relevant Minister must then respond to reports via statements to Parliament. From now on, Ministers will need to be ready to show that the needs of animals have been considered in relevant policy decisions. This much awaited reform applies to all policy areas and to all stages of Government policy making and 

implementation which is not explicitly devolved. This means it covers England and policy areas that affect the whole of the UK, for example, military policy. 

 

I am pleased that these reforms will also underpin the Government’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare, which contains upwards of forty valuable reforms. I know that this Government is committed to maintaining the very highest standards of animal welfare and I am delighted that this piece of legislation has now been introduced. 

 

I am pleased that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has commissioned an independent external review of the available scientific evidence on sentience in decapods and cephalopods. This review and the accompanying Seafish Report into welfare risks facing these sea creatures are both expected to be published shortly. I look forward to reading these reviews and I would like to assure you that this Government remains committed to introducing new laws on animal sentience as soon as parliamentary time allows. 

 

If you would like to discuss this further or any other matter, then please do not hesitate to contact me.  

 

cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk