PERIODICAL INSPECTIONS (Hansard, 12 June 1981)

§ Mr. Colvin
I beg to move amendment No. 69, in page 6, line 25, leave out 'seven' and insert 'twenty-eight'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this we may take amendment No. 70, in page 6, line 25, leave out 'seven days' and insert 'four weeks'.

§ Mr. Colvin
The purpose of the amendment is to extend the number of days' notice given to a zoo proprietor of an inspection. The Bill originally required that notice to be 28 days. The amendment would therefore restore the original position, which was changed in Committee.
It may be all very well for a town zoo to accept seven days' notice, but many of our zoos are in rural areas, with all the problems of being isolated, of bad postal services, and so on. Many of the inspections may take place during the winter, when zoos can become cut off. We feel that seven days is inadequate for such notice. Therefore, as my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley, West (Mr. Blackburn) has put down an amendment on the same lines, I ask him to accept this amendment and to restore to the Bill the full 28 days' notice, as originally proposed.

§ Mr. Blackburn
I am most happy to accept amendment No. 69 and not to move my amendment, No. 70.
689 Amendment agreed to.
Amendments made: No. 74, in page 6, line 42, leave out 'qualified' and insert 'competent'.
No. 76, in page 7, line 3, leave out from 'one' to 'and' in line 8 and insert
'from the first part of the list and one from the second'. No. 77, in page 7, line 9, leave out 'proprietor' and insert 'operator'.
No. 78, in page 7, line 10, leave out 'proprietor' and insert 'operator'.
No. 81, in page 7, line 15, leave out 'proprietor' and insert 'operator'.
No. 82, in page 7, line 23, leave out 'the staff'.
No. 83, in page 7, line 26, leave out 'proprietor' and insert 'operator'.
No. 84, in page 7, line 27, leave out 'proprietor' and insert 'operator'.—[Mr. Blackburn.]

§ Mr. Colvin
I beg to move amendment No. 86, in page 7, line 31, leave out from 'improvements' to 'and' in line 33.
This is an opportunity to ask the promoter of the Bill or the Under-Secretary about "modern zoo practice", referred to in clause 10. I hope that he will explain modern zoo practice and the normal standards required. In the United Kingdom there are 177 zoos. Eight of those are safari parks, 35 are wildlife parks in rural states, 110 are small collections, many of which are specialist collections and there are 24 town zoos. There is tremendous variation. "Modern zoo practice" is a hopelessly vague phrase and I hope that the Under-Secretary will explain what is intended.

§ Mr. Blackburn
One finds difficulty in trying to interpret the motives behind an amendment proposed by an hon. Member who is not present. I invite the House to resist it. The words to be omitted add nothing to the sense of the Bill. However, they make it evident that inspectors should encourage modern zoo practice. That will be the subject of much work by the Secretary of State, because he will draw up a code of practice in consultation with the zoo industry. Once that code of practice is in existence the zoo industry will have the opportunity of knowing what yardsticks the inspectors will use in their judgment.

§ Mr. Colvin
As was stated earlier in the debate, there is already a code of guidance in use by the Federation of Zoological Gardens of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The National Zoological Association also has a code of guidance. I tried to draw my hon. Friend in Committee on several occasions on the basic standards to be set up. As he knows, the NZA and the federation are in the process of amalgamation. It would have been more sensible to wait until they have a joint code of guidance which would make a useful basis for my hon. Friend's code of guidance. Will he give an undertaking that the existing codes of guidance will be taken into consideration when the Secretary of State is producing his?

§ Mr. Blackburn
Without hesitation I give that assurance to my hon. Friend. I have here a code of practice for one of those bodies. There is no doubt that the two bodies mentioned by the Under-Secretary will be drawn 690 together and consulted in conjunction with the list to draw up a code of practice. There is a provision for the Secretary of State to add to that.
I accept what has been said, and it has been noted in the Department. It is a pity that the two national bodies could not have been consulted together, but that is outside the domain of the House. The point is that we are discussing the issue. We have the Bill. I give an assurance, as my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State has given an assurance. It is embodied in the Bill that these people will be consulted in drawing up a code of practice. That is a cast-iron assurance, which I hope will be accepted.
Amendment negatived.
Amendments made: No. 87, in page 7, line 40, leave out 'members of' and insert 'persons on'.
No. 89, in page 7, line 44, leave out 'proprietor' and insert 'operator'.—[Mr. Blackburn.]