3. Statement by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs: The Wild Animals and Circuses (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:56 pm on 9 July 2019.

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Photo of Andrew RT Davies Andrew RT Davies Conservative 2:56, 9 July 2019

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Thank you, Minister, for the introduction of this important piece of legislation, albeit a small piece of legislation when it comes to thinking of some of the Acts that Government and backbenchers have brought before, but a very important one. As you highlight in your statement, 6,500 respondents to the consultation for evidence shows that this has an important part to play in many people's priorities, and we support you wholeheartedly in the endeavours that the Government is seeking to achieve with this piece of legislation, as it was part of our manifesto back in 2016. 

Just a couple of questions, if I may. I'm a little bit concerned about the aspect of subordinate legislation that you highlight in your statement, and the ability to have this as a discretionary power. I appreciate that you as a Minister don't envisage using these powers at the moment, but, from definition and other interpretations, there is a whole range of scenarios you could think of where maybe a future Minister in a different environment might choose to broaden the scope of this Bill from what your intention is as the Minister to achieve in this Bill at the moment. As you highlighted, there are but two circuses travelling with wild animals at the moment, and I think most of us in this Chamber, if not all of us in this Chamber, can clearly understand that. But could you give us an understanding of why you think it's important that that provision is included in the Bill, as I would much prefer to see, obviously, a referral back to the Assembly, and Plenary in particular, if such a change in particular around the scope of the Bill and interpretation was to be considered by a future Minister? 

You quite rightly point out in your statement that Wales obviously is joining the rest of the United Kingdom in the way that they have legislated in this particular area—Scotland, now the UK Parliament and the Assembly. Can you give us an indication of whether this is within the scope of the other Bills passed in other Parliaments of the United Kingdom, or are there areas that you have looked at that either aren't covered by the Welsh Bill or, indeed, where you've increased the scope of the Welsh Bill to be a far broader catch than maybe what Scotland looked at, or what the UK Parliament has looked at as well?

The licensing scheme that you talked of in your statement around domestic animals—or domesticated animals, should I say, sorry—that you're looking to bring forward in the future, could you also give us a taste of what you're hoping to capture by that consultation, and the areas that you think need to be covered by that particular exercise that can't be covered in some of the aspects that you have in legislation at the moment? Because that is a substantial piece of work, I would suggest, going into all sorts of areas. 

And I'd be grateful, finally, if you could confirm that it is the case that this is about travelling circuses and wild animals, and it certainly isn't the intention of the Government to increase the scope of this Bill beyond what you've stated today. Because I appreciate, from some people's perspective, actually, the showing of any type of animal, whether that would be a farm animal or domestic animal, should be captured by this piece of legislation. But, as I understand it, and certainly from the conversations that have been had leading up to this Bill today, it is entirely in the gift of the Government to capture the circuses that are travelling at the moment and wild animals that perform, and the definition of wild animals, as I understand it, is pretty clearly understood. Thank you.