Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:57 pm on 23 June 2021.
I absolutely agree with you—I firmly believe pets enhance family life, and we have certainly seen, unfortunately, an increase particularly in dog thefts over the past few years. It's a criminal offence under the Theft Act 1968, which is, obviously, a reserved piece of legislation, and the maximum penalty is seven years' imprisonment. Officials right across the UK have been considering carefully how we can best tackle pet theft, and DEFRA, the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice have come together jointly in the UK Government and brought forward a taskforce. That was announced, I think, literally just after, or even on the day of, our election in May, and that's going to look at information that all police forces hold in relation to this matter. They're going to report on their findings very soon, actually, over the summer recess.
Here in Wales, I'm just about to announce—well, I think I may have just announced—that next week I'm to meet our Wales rural and wildlife crime co-ordinator. We've got some fantastic rural crime teams here in Wales; I think they're the envy of the England police forces. So, what I've done is agreed to fund a 12-month trial for this co-ordinator—commissioner, actually—and he is going to lead and facilitate effective liaison and co-ordination with the four police forces here in Wales. So, I'm looking forward to meeting him next week. I think it's a very exciting role, going forward.