§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will estimate the cost to the National Health Service of treating people who have been injured by animals in each of the last three years; [81775]
(2) if he will introduce measures to enable those in charge of animals which have caused injuries requiring health service treatment to be charged for that treatment. [81774]
§ Mr. DenhamCentral information is collected annually on the cost of treatments and procedures for services undertaken by National Health Services trusts. These costs are not differentiated between the cause of the treatment, for example whether the treatment was required as a result of animals, a fall etc., and therefore we are unable to estimate the costs of services in this way. There are no plans to introduce charges to owners for the cost of treating people injured by their animals.