§ Mr. Blackburnasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will publish in the Official Report the number of convictions recorded for each of the last five years for offences against the Protection of Animals Acts 1911 to 1964;
(2) if he will publish in the Official Report the number of convictions recorded for each of the last five years for offences against the Protection of Birds Acts 1954 to 1976;
(3) if he will publish in the Official Report the number of convictions for each of the last five years for offences against the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act 1975;
273W(4) if he will publish in the Official Report the number of convictions recorded for each of the last five years for offences under the Riding Establishments Acts of 1964 and 1970;
(5) if he will publish in the Official Report the number of convictions for each of the last five years for offences against the Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963;
(6) if he will publish in the Official Report the number of convictions recorded for each of the last five years for offences against the Pet Animals Act 1951;
(7) if he will publish in the Official Report the number of convictions recorded for each of the last five years for offences under the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973;
(8) if he will publish in the Official Report the number of convictions recorded for each of the last five years for offences against the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act 1976;
(9)if he will publish in the Official Report the number of recorded convictions for each of the last five years for offences against the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976.
§ Mr. MayhewThe information from records available to us is shown in the following table. However, because some prosecutions may have been brought other than by the police the information may be incomplete.
Offenders found guilty of offences under various Acts England and Wales Number of offenders Act under which proceedings were taken 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979† Protection of Animals Acts 1911 to 1964 735 752 707 701 679 Protection of Birds Acts 1954 to 1976 130 152 115 130 146 Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act 1975 — — — 1 — Riding Establishments Acts 1964 and 1970 2 8 3 2 — Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963 — 1 2 — 3 Pet Animals Act 1951 11 2 3 4 3 Breeding of Dogs Act 1973 7 1 6 3 Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act 1976 * * —‡ — —‡ Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 — — 1 — — * Not applicable. † Figures for 1979 exclude offenders receiving a more severe penalty on another count and are therefore not strictly comparable with those for earlier years. ‡ Evasion of the import and export restrictions imposed by this Act is liable to proceedings under Customs and Excise legislation; there was one finding of guilt under such legislation in 1977 and one in 1979. .. Not readily available.