§ 31. Mr. Emrys Hughesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions there have been in recent years for offences involved in the doping of greyhounds.
§ Mr. RentonI regret that separate figures of such convictions are not available and could not be obtained without an amount of research which my right hon. Friend would not consider justified.
§ Mr. HughesIs not the statistical department of the Home Office capable of finding out how many dog-doping trials there have been? Have there been as many as all that? Does not the hon. and learned Gentleman think that this so-called sport has now become a racket and a fraud, and that the public should receive greater protection?
§ Mr. RentonThere is a practical difficulty here. The doping of dogs might involve any of a number of offences, such as conspiracy to defraud, breaking and entering, and sometimes larceny, and it would be necessary to obtain statistics of all those offences which had been committed and then see which had been committed in connection with the doping of dogs, in order to produce a result. It would be a major statistical exercise, and I hope that the hon. Member will not press us to incur the cost involved.