Meetings

The Committee considered the Welsh Government’s response to its report and agreed to request a debate in Plenary

The Committee agreed the report and recommendations.

The Committee agreed a draft report on petition P-04-433 CCTV in Slaughterhouses and for it to be published in the near future.

The Committee considered further correspondence on the petition and agreed to produce a report to summarise the evidence it has received and formalise its recommendations to the Welsh Government.

The Committee considered this petition together with P-04-433 and agreed to write back to the Cabinet Secretary to:

• reiterate it’s view that the Welsh Government should make CCTV mandatory in Welsh slaughterhouses;
• ask the Cabinet Secretary to inform the Committee about the uptake of funding under the Food Business Investment Scheme when this is known; and
• ask her to provide a list of slaughterhouses in Wales that do not have CCTV installed.

The Committee heard evidence from the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs and agreed to write to her to ask for assurances that all abattoirs in Wales will be encouraged to apply for grant funding for the installation of CCTV and those who choose not to apply will be closely monitored, with a view to closing the petition once the Cabinet Secretary’s response has been received.

The Committee considered this petition together with P-04-399 Slaughter Practices and agreed to write back to the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs expressing that the Committee are supportive of the call for CCTV to be mandatory in slaughterhouses and request that she reconsiders the Welsh Government’s position.

The Committee considered the petition alongside P-04-399 Slaughter Practices and agreed to write back to the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs to ask that the Welsh Government give further consideration to this issue in light of the recent announcement by the UK Government that it intends to make CCTV in slaughterhouses a mandatory requirement in England, and the commitment of the Scottish Government to run a public consultation on the issue.

The Committee considered correspondence on the petition and agreed to forward the petitioner’s most recent comments to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment & Rural Affairs and accept the offer of an update from the Welsh Government when appropriate.

The Committee considered this petition together with P-04-399 Slaughter Practices, and agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs to ask to be informed of the findings of the industry group report before considering further action on both petitions.

The Committee considered correspondence on the petition and agreed to:

·         draw Animal Aid’s response to the attention of the Deputy Minister and ask for her comments on their further proposals into how CCTV footage might be accessed and monitored; and

·         ask the Deputy Minister for her views on whether the FAWC’s recommendation, and her written statement, will have any impact on the somewhat different issue of slaughter without pre-stunning. 

This Petition was considered together with the previous one. The Committee considered correspondence on the petition and agreed to:

·         ask the Deputy Minister to notify the Committee once she has reviewed the content of the Farm Animal Welfare Committee’s (FAWC) opinion; and

·         await the petitioners’ views on the Minister’s response.

The Committee considered correspondence on the petition and agreed to await an update from the Minister once the report of the Farm Animal Welfare Committee to the Welsh Government has been received and considered.

The Committee considered correspondence on the petition and agreed to await a further update from the Minister.

The Committee considered correspondence on the petition and agreed to write to the Minister for Natural Resources and Food asking for a timeframe for consideration of this issue and highlighting the petitioner’s additional information.

The Committee considered correspondence on the petition and agreed to seek clarity from the Minister for Natural Resources and Food on the timeframe for taking forward this issue.

The Committee considered correspondence on the petition and agreed to write to the Minister for Natural Resources and Food asking that the Committee be kept updated with developments on this issue.

The Committee considered correspondence on the petition and agreed to:

·         write to the Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development asking for clarification on how he intends to take forward the issue of CCTV in slaughterhouses and the timeframe for doing so; and

·         commission a research paper on how this issue is dealt with across Europe.

The Committee considered this petition for the first time.

Joyce Watson stated that she had signed a Statement of Opinion on this subject.

The Committee agreed to seek the views of the Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development on the petition and to request details of when the findings from the consultation on the implementation of EU Regulations on the protection of animals at the time of slaughter will be made public.