Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General – in the Senedd at 2:38 pm on 14 March 2018.
Well, with section 12 of the 2006 Act, what is important is that strong evidence supports the argument for animal welfare. The UK Government has been clear that there isn't a sufficiently robust basis for that, and more than one report has demonstrated that. The Welsh Government commissioned a report that demonstrated that there was evidence to support that to some extent, but the risk within the welfare analysis is that it won't be adequate to withstand any legal challenge in the courts. There has been discussion, as the Cabinet Secretary alluded to in a recent debate. There has been discussion with the UK Government on a joint Bill, so that we could actually tackle that challenge that jointly, but that will take time. Consideration has been given to a specific Act to deal with this, and the powers that will come to us under the new settlement are broader, of course, and won't restrict us just to looking at animal welfare specifically. I listened to the comments of both the Members and the Cabinet Secretary in that debate, and I cannot discuss legal advice here, but I understand the strength of people's standpoints in this context.