Animal welfare inspectors and improvement notices

Researching the effectiveness of s.10 Improvement Notices under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in the period 2015-present.

Inspectors:
– How many Inspectors are currently employed to carry out inspections under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 at your local authority?

Enforcement of this legislation is not a duty of the Local Authority, however Enforcement of the Animal Health Act 1981 is, and the Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards service employs 70 members of staff who are authorised under both pieces of legislation. These staff have a variety of duties. Inspection of farm premises is primarily the responsibility of the “Business Support and Innovation” team who have 26 Trading Standards Officers authorised under the legislation. Investigative work in this area may also be conducted by the “Intelligence and Investigations” team. Information on Strategic Plans and Structure can be online found at:

Service plans, governance and policies

– Of these, how many inspectors have received formal training for animal health and welfare and when did they receive this training?

Staff are frequently redeployed between teams in relation to service need. From training records the following numbers have received formal Animal Health training in the years requested.

2015/16: 20
2016/17: 19
2017/18: 10
2018/19: 24
2019/20: 27
2020/21: 42

Improvement Notices:
– How many s.10 Improvement Notices under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 were issued in your Council Area between 2015 to present?

We have not issued any Notices in the time period. Although S10 Notices are open to Local Authority inspectors they are more commonly issued by Animal Health and Plant Agency, who may hold information about the areas we cover.

– How many prosecutions under s.4 and s.9 were commenced under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 as a result of a failure to comply with a s.10 Improvement Notice? If possible, please also provide which area/group of animals the prosecutions related to.

None

Improvement Notice Templates:
– Does your Council Area have a template for Inspectors to use when issuing an s.10 Improvement Notice?

No

– What guidance do you issue to Inspectors to ensure they are complying with the requirements set out in s.10 Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Please refer to our response above regarding this legislation.  We therefore do not hold this information

– In relation to the above questions, we would appreciate a schedule of documents, including any Improvement Notices issued in your Council Area. Please also provide any template Improvement Notices or guidance provided to Inspectors or owners of animals to whom the Improvement Notice applies.

The available template can be seen via the link below:

Improvement notice template