Commentary on provisions of Act
Section 1: The Animal Sentience Committee
- This section requires a new committee, the Animal Sentience Committee (the Committee), to be established and maintained.
- Subsection (1) names the Committee and requires the Secretary of State to establish and maintain it. This means that the Secretary of State should take reasonable steps to ensure that the Committee, once established, remains extant and has the resources necessary to conduct the business specified in this Act.
- Subsection (2) states that the members of the Committee will be appointed by the Secretary of State. Standard public appointments rules apply to appointments made by the Secretary of State (e.g. a fair recruitment process is required).
- Subsection (3) specifies that the terms of appointment, such as appointment length and remuneration, may be determined by the Secretary of State.
Section 2: Reports of the Committee
- This section empowers the Committee to publish reports, for selected policies, giving its opinion as to whether the Government is having, or has had, "all due regard" to the ways in which the policy might have an adverse effect on the welfare of animals as sentient beings. When publishing its opinions, the Committee may include recommendations to Ministers on the steps that the Government should take to ensure that, in any further formulation or implementation of the policy, its effect on the welfare of animals is given "all due regard". As the reports relate to "animals as sentient beings", the section recognises that animals within the meaning of section 5(1) are sentient.
- Subsection (1) allows the Committee to produce a report on any government policy which is being, or has been, formulated or implemented.
- Subsection (2) says that any such report must give the Committee’s view on "whether, or to what extent, the government is having, or has had, all due regard to the ways in which the policy might have an adverse effect on the welfare of animals as sentient beings". The Committee will be able to issue an opinion in relation to any central government policy. In order to produce a report on this question, the Committee will need to scrutinise the manner in which the policy in question is being, or has been, formulated or implemented and assess the type and level of consideration that the Government is giving, or has given, to any potential adverse effects of the policy on the welfare of animals as sentient beings. This does not mean that the welfare of sentient animals should take precedence over other considerations when formulating or implementing a particular policy.
- Subsection (3) allows the Committee’s reports to include recommendations to the Government in relation to the policy covered by the report.
- Subsection (4) explains that these recommendations will address the future development or application of the policy in question. Specifically, the Committee can advise on the steps that should be taken to ensure that any potential adverse effects on animal welfare arising from the policy are given due consideration.
- Subsection (4a) requires any recommendations in reports produced by the Animal Sentience Committee to respect religious rites, cultural traditions and regional heritage.
- Subsection (5) requires the Committee’s reports to be published, by whichever methods it deems appropriate. This is intended to promote transparency.
- Subsection (6) excludes a Government policy from the Committee’s remit if, or to the extent that, the policy relates to legislative provision falling within devolved competence.
- Subsection (7) defines legislative provision falling within devolved competence.
Section 3: Response to reports
- This section requires the relevant Minister to lay a written response before Parliament within three months. This is intended to encourage Ministers to engage with the Committee’s recommendations in appropriate detail in a timely manner and support Parliament in scrutinising the policy-making process.
- Subsection (1) requires the Secretary of State to lay a response to a Committee report before Parliament within a certain time limit.
- Subsection (2) specifies this time limit as three months beginning on the date on which the report is published.
- Subsection (3) excludes from this time limit any days when Parliament is dissolved or prorogued, and any periods of more than three days when Parliament is adjourned.
Section 4: Information
- This section includes the Committee and its work in the scope of existing transparency legislation, namely the Public Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act.
- Subsection (1) lists the Committee as subject to the provisions of the Public Records Act 1958, with Defra as the responsible department.
- Subsection (2) adds the Committee to the list of public bodies subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Section 5: Interpretation
- This section defines the animals to which the Act applies, and stipulates that this definition may be amended by the Secretary of State by means of statutory instrument, which would need to be approved by both Houses of Parliament.
- Subsection (1) defines an "animal," for the purposes of this Act, as any vertebrate other than Homo sapiens (e.g. birds, dogs, cats, reptiles); any cephalopod mollusc (e.g. octopuses, squid) and any decapod crustacean (e.g. crab, shrimp). All animals defined in this subsection are therefore considered to be sentient for the purposes of Section 2(2) and (4) and will be within the scope of the Committee’s consideration.
- Subsection (2) allows this definition of an "animal" to be extended by the Secretary of State by regulations. If the Secretary of State considers that a certain type of invertebrate (other than decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs) is sentient, then he or she may exercise the regulation-making power to apply the provisions of this Act to that type of invertebrate.
- Subsection (4) specifies that these statutory instruments can be made only under the affirmative resolution process. This means that both Houses of Parliament must actively approve any changes for them to become law.
- Subsection (5) gives meaning to the terms "vertebrate" and "invertebrate". These are the meanings given by section 1(5) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006, namely ""vertebrate" means any animal of the Sub-phylum Vertebrata of the Phylum Chordata and "invertebrate" means any animal not of that Sub-phylum".
