The Government has responded to the current Petition - which can be signed here https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/624876 until the April 2023 deadline.
At 100,000 signatures, if reached, the Government will consider a debate in Parliament, raising awareness and keeping the pressure on for smarter dog law.
DEFRA Written Response:
Repealing breed-specific controls with no other changes may
increase risks to public safety. Any reforms would require careful
consideration so that public safety remains at the heart of the regime.
We recognise that dog attacks can have horrific
consequences, and we take this issue very seriously.
We recognise that some people are opposed to the
prohibitions placed on the four types of dog under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
However, HM Government must balance the views of those who want to repeal or
amend breed specific legislation with our responsibility to ensure that the
public is properly protected from dog attacks.
Simply repealing the breed specific provisions contained in
the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 with no other changes may increase the risks to
public safety, which HM Government is unwilling to do. Any changes to current
legislation would require careful consideration to ensure that public safety
remains at the heart of the regime.
Police and local authorities already have a range of powers
available to tackle dangerous dogs and irresponsible dog ownership across all
breeds of dog.
Under section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (“the 1991
Act”), it is an offence to allow any dog to be dangerously out of control in
any place. For the purposes of the 1991 Act, this includes any occasion on
which there are grounds for reasonable apprehension that the dog in question
will injure someone, whether or not it actually does so. The maximum penalty for
such an offence is fourteen years’ imprisonment if it results in the death of a
person; five years in the case of injury; three years if it is an attack on an
assistance dog and six months where no injury is caused to a person.
Section 2 of the Dogs Act 1871 allows a complaint to be made
to a Magistrate’s court where a dog is “dangerous and not kept under proper
control”. The court may make any Order it considers appropriate, to require the
owner to keep the dog under proper control, or if necessary, that it be
destroyed.
Additionally, the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing
Act 2014 includes specific powers to enable the police and local authorities to
tackle irresponsible dog ownership. These powers can help prevent situations
involving irresponsible owners of dogs becoming more serious by facilitating
intervention earlier on.
The main tool to tackle this form of irresponsible dog
ownership is the Community Protection Notice (CPN). These notices can be issued
by local authority officers or the police to dog owners, or anyone temporarily
in charge of the dog at the time. Failure to comply with a CPN is a criminal
offence.
Under the 2014 Act, local authorities can also use Public
Space Protection Orders to deal with a particular nuisance or problem arising
in an area by imposing conditions on the use of that area. For example, a
Public Space Protection Order may be used to exclude dogs from designated
spaces (e.g., a children's play area in a park), require dogs to be kept on
leads, or restrict the number of dogs that can be walked by one person at any
one time.
HM Government is determined to crack down on irresponsible
dog ownership and to that end we are encouraging police forces and local
authorities across the country to use these powers.
In December 2021, Defra published research in collaboration
with Middlesex University investigating measures to reduce dog attacks and
promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. The research
considers the effectiveness of current dog control measures and makes several
recommendations. These relate to consistency in enforcement practice and
greater use of preventative enforcement models, improved knowledge and
awareness of appropriate behaviour around dogs, strengthened accreditation of dog
trainers, improved data recording and collection, as well as the introduction
of new legal requirements of dog ownership.
In response to this research, Defra has established a
Responsible Dog Ownership working group involving police, local authorities and
animal welfare organisations to consider the recommendations made in the
Middlesex University report in more detail. We expect the working group to
report next year and that its conclusions and recommendations will address all
aspects of tackling irresponsible dog ownership effectively, from prevention to
robust, consistent enforcement, focussing on owners as well as on their dogs.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
