§ 6. Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were convicted in the United Kingdom for the most recent year available for not having a current dog licence; and how many man-hours the Metropolitan Police spend on enforcing dog licences.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Dr. Shirley Summerskill)In England and Wales in 1976, 4,224 persons were found guilty of offences relating to dog licences. The 645 information requested in the second part of the Question is not available.
§ Mr. BennettDoes not my hon. Friend agree that the situation in regard to dog licences has become a farce? Is it not high time that the Government implemented the majority of the recommendations of the Working Party on Dogs? Does she not agree that we should not continue with the situation in which policemen are being asked to implement an utterly ridiculous law?
§ Dr. SummerskillI am in sympathy with my hon. Friend's view. Implementation of the report of the working party is a matter for the Secretary of State for the Environment, and I understand that his Department v/ill shortly be making a statement on the report.
§ Mr. AdleyIs it not about time that the Government had a serious look at the possibility of amalgamating the forms and methods of obtaining dog licences, gun licences, television licences, car licences and so on—preferably not at Swansea—so that people could have the option of going to their local post office once a year and filling in the relevant forms for the licences they require and thus have one administration rather than four, five or six?
§ Dr. SummerskillFrom the way the hon. Gentleman describes his proposed system, it sounds a lot more complicated than the present arrangements. The administrative reason for the current arrangements is that money collected from various licences goes to different Government Departments. It may be of interest to the House to know that dog licences bring in about £1,097,000 a year.