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1123238

registered interest
date	25/04/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Game: Birds
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many game birds are kept in barren cages; and what legal recourse is available in relation to people caught keeping game birds in those cages.
tabling member constituency	Wansbeck
tabling member printed	Ian Lavery
uin	247714
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2019 answer text <p>The Government shares the public’s high regard for animal welfare and the welfare of our farmed livestock is protected by comprehensive and robust legislation.</p><p> </p><p>The welfare of gamebirds is protected by the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which makes it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering. This is backed up by the statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes, which recommends that barren cages should not be used for breeding birds. Keepers are required by law to have access to, and be familiar with this code, which encourages the adoption of high standards of husbandry. Failure to observe the provisions of a code may also be used in support of a prosecution.</p><p> </p><p>Whatever the system of production, the most important factor in determining animal welfare is good stockmanship and the correct application of husbandry standards. This reflects the advice of our expert body, the Farm Animal Welfare Committee.</p><p> </p><p>Data on numbers of gamebirds kept in barren cages is not held centrally by Defra.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 30/04/2019 15:47:58 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4139 label Biography information for Ian Lavery

1123239

registered interest
date	25/04/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Game: Birds
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many inspections of game bird farms were undertaken by (a) the Animal and Plant Health Agency and (b) local trading standards in 2018; and how many of those visits resulted in an animal welfare prosecution.
tabling member constituency	Wansbeck
tabling member printed	Ian Lavery
uin	247715
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2019 answer text <p>a) The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) does not undertake routine inspections of game bird establishments, however inspections will be carried out if specific welfare issues are reported.</p><p> </p><p>During the year 2018 APHA completed 23 welfare inspections on game bird farms in England, Scotland and Wales.</p><p> </p><p>The breakdown is as follows:</p><p> </p><p><strong>England 8</strong></p><p><strong>Scotland 13</strong></p><p><strong>Wales 2</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong>Total</strong> <strong>23</strong></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>b) APHA is unable to provide a response on behalf of local authorities. Local authority trading standards services do not have a statutory duty to undertake inspections of game bird facilities, although they may undertake some based on their internal risk analysis and local decision making. In order to ascertain the number of inspections carried out, it would be necessary to approach each individual local authority in England and request this information.</p><p> </p><p>Prosecutions made under the Animal Health Act 1981 and incidences of disease are published in Section 80 of the Act. These also include all prosecutions made by local authorities under farmed animal welfare legislation. The report for 2018 can be found here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/section-80-report-for-2018-under-the-animal-health-act-1981" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/section-80-report-for-2018-under-the-animal-health-act-1981</a></p><p> </p><p>Brief details of successful prosecutions are contained in Annex 1, but they do not detail any prosecutions against game bird farms specifically.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 30/04/2019 15:21:52 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4139 label Biography information for Ian Lavery