7. How is the Government ensuring that animal sanctuaries are taking sufficient steps to meet welfare standards? OQ57014

Thank you. The Welsh Government work closely with the Animal Welfare Network for Wales group, who published their voluntary code of practice for animal welfare establishments or sanctuaries in 2020. Further consideration on better regulation of animal welfare establishments, which include sanctuaries, will be addressed via the programme for government commitments and the proposed animal welfare plan for Wales I just referred to.

Diolch, Minister. We have some incredible sanctuaries here in Wales doing vital work to rescue animals that have been abandoned or injured. The vast majority of sanctuaries and rescue centres are models of good practice. However, there is no regulation of them. Anyone can establish one, whether or not they have the experience and the know-how. It is the view of the RSPCA, one of the leading authorities on animal welfare, that sanctuary and rescue centre regulation is long overdue in Wales to show that animals have the protection that they need. The legislation would also ensure that established sanctuaries and rescue centres that are models of good practice will be protected and not tarnished by rogue establishments. Can you give an indication whether you're looking into this legislation and, if so, when it would be implemented?

Thank you. So, you're absolutely right—they play an invaluable part in animal welfare services, and, unfortunately, there are times when things have gone wrong, and certainly, since I've been Minister, I've had a couple of issues highlighted to me, but the majority of them, as you say, are models of good practice. I mentioned the code of practice in my answer to you, and I am aware that that group that worked with us on that do have a desire for the introduction of statutory measures. They would like statutory regulation or some sort of licensing system to come into place. It is, again, something I am considering within the animal welfare plan that I will be publishing later this year.

I'm sure all parties across the Chamber rightly support steps to ensure animal welfare standards are being met, and I'm always happy to declare an interest as the owner of a lovely two-year-old Glen of Imaal terrier. It's really important that we have the right animal welfare standards in place. I'd certainly echo the words mentioned in terms of the vital role that animal sanctuaries play in facilitating animals and giving them a safe environment to live in for a time. We do know, though, Minister, that a lot of the work in terms of ensuring the regulations are kept to are undertaken by local council officers, and as and when there's more regulation put in place, that puts more work on already stretched budgets within local authorities to support the enforcement of those regulations. So, Minister, what discussions are you having with local authorities to understand what those current budget pressures are to enforce existing regulations, and what discussions are you having with them to understand what those pressures might be in the future with further regulations as well?

I mentioned in my previous answer to Tom Giffard that the Welsh Government had funded a project with local authorities. It's a three-year project that we began as part of our work around bringing legislation forward in relation to banning third party sales of dogs and cats, which I brought in a few weeks ago. So, we have funded that project, working with local authorities, to see what the barriers were, because I think it doesn't always need legislation, does it? We certainly wanted to see what those barriers were, and funding was clearly a barrier, so we funded the project, which I think has now really helped local authority enforcement officers be able to keep up with the latest statutory guidance, for instance. They've had additional training and, I have to say, they've been a very good partner in bringing these guidelines forward.