Written question asked by Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour) on Thursday, 25 March 2021, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 12 April 2021. It was answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative) on Monday, 12 April 2021 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Animal Welfare
- Question
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To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to provide for animal sentience in law; and if so, whether the definition of animals in that law (1) will be the same as that for vertebrates in the Animal Welfare Act 2006, and (2) will include decapods and cephalopods.
- Answer
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This Government has a manifesto commitment to introduce new laws on animal sentience, which we will do as soon as parliamentary time allows.
The current science is clear that vertebrates can experience pain and suffering. It is on that basis that the definition of "animal" in the Animal Welfare Act 2006 is limited only to vertebrates. Defra has commissioned an independent external review of the available scientific evidence on sentience in decapods and cephalopods. This review is expected to report shortly.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- HL14638
- Session
- 2019-21
- Related items
- Subjects
- Animal welfare Shellfish Cephalopods
- Legislation
- Animal Welfare Act 2006
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2021-06-10 17:18:06 +0100
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/lords/2019-21/HL14638
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/lords/2019-21/HL14638
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/lords/2019-21/HL14638