Find the time to take the Kept Animals Bill through Parliament and make it law
The Parliament petitions site records 108,155 signatures for this petition, which closed on 21 January 2023. The Government responded on 12 August 2022. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 5 December 2022.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Find the time to take the Kept Animals Bill through Parliament and make it law
Hundreds of thousands of people signed numerous petitions calling for actions that the Government has included in the Kept Animals Bill. The Government should urgently find time to allow the Bill to complete its journey through Parliament and become law.
The Government promised to find time to take this bill through the next parliamentary stages so it can receive Royal Assent and become law, yet we are still waiting. For the Government to live up to its claims to be leading the way in animal welfare there must be no further delay to this legislation becoming law.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 12 August 2022; the petitions site lists the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as responsible. Its summary:
The Kept Animals Bill was reintroduced in May 2022 and will continue its passage through the Commons when parliamentary time allows.
The opening 387 words of the 480-word response:
The Government has made a clear commitment to raising animal welfare standards and set this out in our Action Plan for Animal Welfare. This lays out all of our proposed animal welfare and conservation reforms, including those in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill (“the Kept Animals Bill”).
The Kept Animals Bill was reintroduced following the Queen’s Speech in May 2022 and will progress to Report stage in the Commons as soon as parliamentary time allows. It was introduced in the previous Session, and it is not unusual for some bills to be carried over to the next Session to ensure sufficient time is allowed to fully scrutinise their provisions.
The Bill delivers key manifesto commitments to end the export of live animals for fattening and slaughter, crack down on puppy smuggling, and ban the keeping of primates as pets. It will also update the Zoo Licensing Act 1981, introduce a new pet abduction offence following the work of the Pet Theft Taskforce and reform legislation to tackle livestock worrying which goes back to the 1950s.
Work to implement the measures in the Bill has not stopped: we have consulted publicly on the use of powers in the Bill to tackle illegal puppy smuggling; we have launched a targeted consultation with the zoo sector on our updated zoo standards; we are working with enforcement partners including the police and local authorities to develop guidance for enforcing the new legislation; and we are preparing the secondary legislation required under the Bill to minimise any delays to implementing these measures following Royal Assent.
It’s just part of the Government’s ambitious plans to improve animal welfare standards at home and abroad, as set out in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare. Since its publication in May 2021, we have made significant progress in taking forward these reforms:
* the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 became law in the last Session, and we are in the process of setting up the Animal Sentience Committee to advise the Government on policies that impact on the welfare of animals;
* we have taken on board the recommendations of the Pet Theft Taskforce and added a new offence of pet abduction to the Kept Animals Bill;
* we have announced we will make cat microchipping compulsory and we are updating the dog microchipping regulations;
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies on the boundaries used until the 2024 general election. The largest number, 1,561, came from East Londonderry.
107,689 of the signatures were from the UK and 466 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures |
|---|---|
| East Londonderry | 1,561 |
| Ynys Môn | 1,418 |
| East Antrim | 1,283 |
| South Antrim | 1,274 |
| Mid Ulster | 1,271 |
| North Antrim | 1,255 |
| South Down | 1,125 |
| Dwyfor Meirionnydd | 1,078 |
| Livingston | 936 |
| North Down | 932 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| Wales | 17,897 |
| Scotland | 17,308 |
| Northern Ireland | 14,078 |
| South East | 12,049 |
| South West | 8,855 |
| East of England | 7,294 |
| North West | 6,344 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 5,532 |
| West Midlands | 5,341 |
| London | 5,137 |
| East Midlands | 4,843 |
| North East | 2,506 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 5 December 2022. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/619442.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
ed28f9c1b68430cd… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.