I request the following information in relation to farm animal species only during the years 2022 and 2023 (broken down by year):
1. Do you enforce farmed animal welfare legislation?
Yes
2. How many of each of the following are under your authority?
a. Farms;
21,977 livestock farms
b. Markets;
18 livestock markets
c. Borders –
Nil
3. How many of each of the following in your jurisdiction were inspected one or more times?
a. Farms;
21, livestock farms were visited more than once in 2022,
14 livestock farms were visited more than once in 2023
b. Markets;
8 markets were visited more than once in 2022,
11 markets were visited more than once in 2023
c. Borders
N/A
For the avoidance of doubt, if the same farm/market/border was inspected more than once then it should only be recorded once.
4. How many of each of the following in your jurisdiction showed non-compliance with animal welfare law following an inspection:
a. Farms;
2022: 23 Farms,
2023: 16 Farms (note – these were farms where any non-compliance found was not able to be resolved during the inspection)
b. Markets;
2022: 2 markets,
2023: 5 markets
c. Borders
N/A
For the avoidance of doubt, if the same farm/market/border was inspected more than once and showed non-compliance each time, then it should only be recorded once, similarly if it showed compliance on one inspection and not the other, then it should also be recorded as one.
5. How many of each of the following were inspected more than once in your jurisdiction?
a. Farms;
b. Markets; and
c. Borders
Please see our response answer to question 3
6. What were the total number of inspections that were conducted in your jurisdiction at each of the following:
a. Farms;
2022: 266,
2023: 232
b. Markets;
2022: 157
2023: 167
c. Borders
N/A
7. What was the total number of inspections conducted in your jurisdiction at each of the following that found non-compliance with animal welfare law?
a. Farms;
b. Markets; and
c. Borders
Please see our response answer to question 4
8. What was your body’s budget for farmed animal welfare enforcement?
We do not have a dedicated budget for farmed animal welfare enforcement.
9. Please list whether an official improvement notice or a prosecution was issued or commenced by you on each of the occasion an inspection revealed non-compliance at each of the following:
a. Farms;
2022 – 3
2023 – 2
b. Markets;
2022 – 0
2023 – 0
c. Borders
N/A
10. How many welfare complaints did you receive in relation to the following:
a. On-farm animal welfare;
2022 – 80,
2023 -119
b. Welfare at markets;
2022 – 6,
2023 – 13
c. Welfare during transport
2022 – 249,
2023 – 229 (some will be duplicates as recorded against both haulier & farmer)
d. Welfare at a border post
N/A
11. How many welfare complaints did you investigate in relation to the following:
a. On-farm animal welfare;
2022 – 60
2023 – 93
b. Welfare at markets;
2022 – 6
2023 – 6
c. Welfare during transport
2022 – 142
2023 – 153
d. Welfare at a border post
N/A
12. How many prosecution proceedings did you commence for offences named in the Animal Welfare Act 2006?
2022 – 2
2023 – 2
a. Of those proceedings, how many resulted in a successful prosecution?
1 (some prosecutions are pending)
13. How many improvement notices did you serve under section 10 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 for failures to comply with section 9(1) of that Act?
2022 – 0
2023 – 0
14. How many prosecution proceedings did you commence for offences named in Section 7 of the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007?
2022 – 0
2023 – 0
15. How many compliance notices were issued by your inspectors for failures to comply with the Welfare of Animals (Transport) (England) Order 2006?
2022 – 1
2023 – 8
16. How many prosecution proceedings did you commence for offences named in the Welfare of Animals at Markets Order 1990?
0
17. How many individuals subject to any of the above enforcement action had previously committed an animal welfare offence?
1
18. How many people do you employ to carry out farm animal welfare inspections as part of their duties?
We have a Rural Team that deal with the bulk of our Animal Health & Feed work but other staff will assist as required. Our Rural team currently has 11.5 FTEs.
a. How many farm animal welfare inspections did they complete?
Please see our response to question to 6a.
19. How many people do you employ to carry out enforcement of the Animal Health Act 1981 as part of their duties?
We have a Rural Team that deal with the bulk of our Animal Health & Feed work but other staff will assist as required. Our Rural team currently has 11.5 FTEs.
20. In handling future freedom of information requests, is your authority able to respond to questions through a Google Form as an alternative to email response to enhance accessibility and efficiency?
All responses to Freedom of Information responses are published on this website to ensure public accessibility for all responses. We have no plans to change the method of our response.