Thank you for contacting my office. I very much appreciate you getting in touch about animal welfare and the sale of foie gras and fur.
The government has committed itself to ensuring the highest standards of animal welfare in the UK. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) set out its plans for championing and taking action on animal welfare in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare. This paper sets out that the government will consult on a ban on the sale of foie gras and fur. No decision has yet been made. Let me assure you that the government carefully considers all legislative proposals in detail before making any decision.
Please follow the link to the DEFRA paper below for reference:
Our departure from the EU has provided the opportunity to act on implementing higher levels of animal welfare in the UK. Please be assured that the government continues to recognise the importance of high animal welfare standards. I will set out some significant recent announcements by the government in this regard.
The provisions of the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill will improve the policy and decision-making processes of Government, ensuring that Ministers get the right balance between animal welfare and other important considerations.
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, George Eustice, set out the government’s intentions:
“The Bill proposes four things. First, it establishes an Animal Sentience Committee, whose members the Secretary of State will appoint on the basis of expertise and experience. Secondly, it tasks that committee with scrutinising Ministers’ policy formation and the implementation of decisions. In each instance, it will publish a report containing its views on whether Ministers have had all due regard to the welfare needs of animals as sentient beings.
Thirdly, Ministers will be held to account through a duty to respond to the committee’s reports by means of a written statement to Parliament, and Parliament must receive such responses within three months. Finally, the wording of the Bill offers recognition that non-human vertebrates—that is, animals with a spine—and additionally decapod crustaceans, such as lobsters, and cephalopod molluscs, such as octopuses, are sentient. That means they are capable of experiencing pain or suffering. The Bill contains a delegated power for Ministers to add by regulation other species to the definition of animals. That is to be used if there is good scientific evidence that those particular species are sentient.”
This Bill builds on recent positive action the Government has taken to improve animal welfare standards, such as a requirement for CCTV in all slaughterhouses and implementing one of the world's toughest ivory bans. For companion animals, the Government have introduced new updated minimum welfare standards for pet selling, dog breeding, riding schools, animal boarding and exhibiting animals; as well as a ban on the commercial third-party sale of puppies and kittens.
Thank you once again for getting in touch, and if I can be of further assistance with any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.
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