Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:53 pm on 13 October 2021.
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?