§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the hunts active across the Vale of York in part in upland areas will be allowed to continue under the proposed Bill. [89010]
§ Alun MichaelThe proposal in the Hunting Bill is to establish a system for making case-by-case decisions on whether hunting activities may take place, to ensure that unnecessary suffering is prevented. An applicant would have to show that both the tests of utility and cruelty are met in the case of the particular hunting proposal. It will be for the registrar to be satisfied, on the basis of an objective assessment of the evidence—which would cover any local factors—provided by both the applicant and the animal welfare body, that the proposed hunting satisfied the two tests, namely, that it would be for one of the purposes set out in clause 8(1) and that the purpose cannot reasonably be achieved by a method that would cause less suffering.