![]() ![]() ![]() Lord Beynon, Under Secretary of State for Defra, suggested this was due to the term being ‘ heavily influenced by the latest scientific understanding’ and that it was ‘not necessary’ to define sentience in statute for the Bill to work.’ Feedback on different definitions of sentience were considered by the Government in the creation of the Bill – however the current Bill contains no definition. Whilst the UK’s Animal Welfare Committee (an expert committee that provides independent, impartial advice to Defra and the Scottish and Welsh Governments on farm animal welfare) has previously defined sentience as ’the capacity to experience pain, distress or harm’ this is a very narrow description and more complex and accurate definitions exist. Worryingly the term ‘sentience’ is not defined in the Bill. More information can be found in the Explanatory Notes for the Bill. The second section covers transparency information, definition of ‘animal’ for the purposes of the Bill, and its commencement and territorial extent. The first section covers the establishment and role of the Animal Sentience Committee (ASC), reporting by the ASC and how the Government responds to reports. ![]() The Bill is short, consisting of six clauses split into two sections. This included recognition that all vertebrate and some invertebrate animals are sentient. The current Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill was introduced in the House of Lords on. Examples of concerns raised included a lack of definition of ‘animal’ in the Bill and what ‘regard for welfare’ meant in practical terms in the statement ‘Ministers of the Crown have regard to the welfare needs of animals as sentient beings in formulating and implementing government policy.’ The initial bill proposal was paused by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) in response to concerns raised by EFRA (The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee) over ambiguity in Clause 1 of the Bill and its scope and accountability mechanisms. The creation of the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill was started by the UK Government in response to concerns raised when Article 13 of the Lisbon Treaty, which recognises animals as sentient beings, was not transposed into UK legislation, post-Brexit. What is the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill? However, in paragraph 21 of the recently published Explanatory Notes for the Bill, the Government also states that whilst the Animal Sentience Committee will be able to issue opinions and write reports, ‘ This does not mean that the welfare of sentient animals should take precedence over other considerations when formulating or implementing a particular policy.’ This acknowledgement raises questions about how much impact the new Bill will have and what influence the new Animal Sentience Committee will truly have on policy. ![]() As the Government asks for expert feedback on the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill by the 8 th of February, Amy Beale, Education & Outreach Manager at FRAME, runs through the history of the current draft, discusses potential weaknesses, encourages animal welfare experts to respond to the Public Bill Committee, and asks MPs to engage with and support the Bill to ensure recognition of sentience in animals is enshrined in UK law.Ī Government Press release in May 2021 promoting the introduction of the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill as part of the Government’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare stated that the new ‘ Animal Sentience Committee will put animal sentience at heart of government policy’. ![]()
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