I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’) to please 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?
a. if not why? e.g. no farms, a different local authority does
b. if a different local authority enforces this legislation in your area, please inform us which one?
2. How many of each of the following are under your authority?
a. Farms;
b. Markets; and
c. Borders
3. How many of each of the following in your jurisdiction were inspected one or more times?
a. Farms;
b. Markets; and
c. Borders
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;
b. Markets; and
c. Borders
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
6. What were the total number of inspections that were conducted in your jurisdiction at each of the following:
a. Farms;
b. Markets; and
c. Borders
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
8. What was your body’s 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;
b. Markets; and
c. Borders
10. How many welfare complaints did you receive in relation to the following:
a. On-farm animal welfare;
b. Welfare at markets; and,
c. Welfare during transport
d. Welfare at a border post
11. How many welfare complaints did you investigate in relation to the following:
a. On-farm animal welfare;
b. Welfare at markets; and,
c. Welfare during transport
d. Welfare at a border post
12. How many prosecution proceedings did you commence for offences named in the Animal Welfare Act 2006?
a. Of those proceedings, how many resulted in a successful prosecution?
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?
14. How many prosecution proceedings did you commence for offences named in Section 7 of the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007?
a. Of those proceedings, how many resulted in a successful prosecution?
15. How many compliance notices were issued by your inspectors for failures to comply with the Welfare of Animals (Transport) (England) Order 2006?
16. How many prosecution proceedings did you commence for offences named in the Welfare of Animals at Markets Order 1990?
a. Of those proceedings, how many resulted in a successful prosecution?
17. How many individuals subject to any of the above enforcement action had previously committed an animal welfare offence?
18. How many people do you employ to carry out farm animal welfare inspections as part of their duties?
a. How many farm animal welfare inspections did they complete?
19. How many people do you employ to carry out enforcement of the Animal Health Act 1981 as part of their duties?
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?