DEFRA have responded to the petitions committee this month;
the online Petition is still open for signatures and can be signed and shared
here - https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/624876
DEFRA: We currently have no plans to repeal the Dangerous
Dogs Act 1991. We are considering improvements to the existing legal framework
through the Responsible Dog Ownership working group.
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, the 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. We currently have no plans to repeal
the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and replace it with a new legal framework.
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 the 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.
The existing legal framework equips the police and local
authorities with appropriate powers 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 Magistrates’ 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.
The 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.
We recognise that improvements could be made to the existing
legal framework. 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 Middlesex
University Report made several recommendations with regard to improvements that
could be made, specifically relating 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.
We have established the Responsible Dog Ownership working
group to consider these recommendations and identify potential reforms that
could be taken forward in a holistic way. We will also be considering the
effectiveness of dog control regimes internationally and what learnings we
could take from these approaches. We expect the working group to make its
recommendations later this year.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Above is the revised response as the Petitions Committee
requested a response which more directly addressed the request of the petition
and you can read the original response on the petition page.
