1. What plans does the Welsh Government have to legally recognise animal sentience in the devolved policy-making process? OQ57929

The UK Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill has completed its parliamentary journey and is awaiting Royal Assent. The Welsh Government has set out its priorities in 'Our Animal Welfare Plan for Wales 2021-26' and will determine our own direction on sentience, recognising that animals are sentient beings. 

Thank you for that answer, Minister. Brexit has left the UK lacking when it comes to legislation to protect animal welfare, and action must be taken as a matter of urgency. RSPCA research has shown that approximately 73 per cent of its inspectors believe that animal cruelty is committed because people do not understand that animals are sentient, with feelings and emotions. With emergency lines receiving over 1 million calls annually, it's clear that greater understanding of animal welfare is needed right across the UK. Would the Minister be willing to work alongside the Minister for education to promote educational programmes aimed at improving people's understanding of animal sentience and how it is relevant to us in our everyday lives, particularly as the introduction of Wales's new curriculum provides an opportunity for teachers to inform students about empathy and compassion? Diolch.

Thank you very much. I certainly share your concern, and the statistics you came forward with are certainly a matter for concern and very worrying. During the previous term of Government, I did meet with the former Minister for Education whilst she was looking at the new curriculum to see if it was possible to perhaps include something in the curriculum in the way you suggest. I also wanted to see if we could do more about responsible pet ownership, because I thought that was very important, with children and young people. As you say, the curriculum will be introduced later this year, and I will certainly ask my officials to follow up on this with the Minister for education to see if there is anything further that can be done. 

The RSPCA was just one of many animal welfare organisations that celebrated when the Conservative UK Government's Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill passed through the House of Lords on 7 April. This legislation will now require all UK Government policy to be scrutinised by a newly formed animal sentience committee. While it is clear that the UK Government is once again leading the way in recognising animal sentience in law, the Welsh Government make no mention of this issue in either their animal welfare plan for Wales nor any other recently published documents. This does raise serious concerns amongst organisations such as RSPCA Cymru, who outlined that, without action, a scrutiny deficit for animals in Wales may develop. Given this, will the Minister commit to following the UK Government in establishing an animal sentience committee to ensure that a scrutiny deficit does not occur and that animals in Wales are afforded the same protection as those in England? Diolch.

I certainly don't just intend to follow what the UK Government are doing or have done. I think you've made a really important point—that it's about actions. I think if you look at the plan that we've brought forward for this term of Government, you will see it's all about actions. It's no good having a strategy and legislation, it's about the implementation of that. You'll see within our plan the things that we will be bringing forward in the next five years. We did follow the Bill very closely, as we always do with any new legislation that comes in from the UK Government, and obviously whilst its provisions didn't apply to Wales, I think animal health and welfare is an area that we've really worked very closely on with the UK Government.