Parliament Debates CWU "Bite Back" Campaign - Report:

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Letter to Branches




No. 607/11
Ref P18
Date: 8 July 2011

To: All Branches


Dear Colleagues


Parliament Debates CWU "Bite Back" Campaign - Report:

The CWU's "Bite Back" campaign received a boost on Wednesday 6th July when a Special Debate took place on Dangerous Dogs in the House of Commons. The well attended debate saw politicians from all parties speak in support of changing out-dated UK laws, many referring directly to CWU "Bite-Back" Campaign and to the danger posed to postal workers by irresponsible dog owners.

Caroline Nokes Conservative MP (Romsey and Southampton North) led the debate, opening with a  powerful case as to why action was needed, because she said: legislation is outdated and ineffective in addressing a growing problem. Any proposed solution must be practical and in the best interests of all concerned. Not only dog welfare organisations but professional bodies, CWU and other trade unions and charities covering wide interest areas have all concluded that the current law on irresponsible dog ownership is simply inadequate. New legislation has been passed in both Scotland and Northern Ireland, and consistency across the whole United Kingdom would be helpful. Finally, in an era of austerity, the current ineffective legislation places an immense financial burden on hard-pressed bodies, such as local authorities and our police, national health and ambulance services not to mention animal welfare organisations, which all too often end up picking up the pieces.

Neil Parish Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton: highlighted the occupational hazard posed by out of control dogs, saying: "postal workers and midwives go into homes where such dogs have been trained to be vicious and are attacked. We must do something about that.

Angela Smith Labour MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, who has been a longstanding and leading supporter of CWU's Bite Back campaign, strongly backed the call for new legislation and quoted from a letter sent to CWU's Dave Joyce by Prime Minister David Cameron before last year's general election in which he pledged: "We support extending dangerous dogs law to cover all places including private property". Angela also recounted recent serious dog attacks on postal workers in particular the attack on Postman Paul Coleman in her own constituency of Sheffield and the attack on Postman Keith Davies in Cambridge which highlight the need for a change in the law. "After these attacks, the Communication Workers Union-the postal workers' union-launched its "Bite-Back" campaign, which has been incredibly successful in raising the profile of the issue. I think that the Minister acknowledges that. I place on the record today the importance of the work done by the CWU in partnership with the RSPCA. They have played a critical role in bringing us to where we are today. Angela said that three years ago, she introduced a ten-minute rule Bill based on the "bite-back" campaign to try to get the law changed. However, before the Bill was heard in the House of Commons, there was another serious attack involving a postal worker in Cambridge, who nearly lost his arm as a result of a dog escaping from inside the gates of a property. Two Rottweilers dragged him to the ground and, as I say, he nearly lost his arm. "In that case, there was an attempt at prosecution on the grounds that the dog attacked on public property. However, the case was thrown out because the attack happened in an unadopted cul-de-sac. That judgment effectively means that there is very little protection not just on private property, but beyond the boundaries of what most of us would understand to be private property. That case alone highlights and underlines the need not only to consolidate, but to strengthen the law," Angela explained.

Angie Bray, Conservative MP for Ealing Central and Acton said: The law must be able to intervene when a dog attack takes place on private property, just as it can in a case of domestic abuse. Somebody pointed out the other day that it seems ridiculous that if a postman puts his hand through a letter box and is bitten by a dog, no action can be taken. However, if the owner of the house happened to be standing behind the letterbox and for some reason decided to bite the hand of the postman, that would automatically be an assault-an offence that the police would look into. We need a proper balance. We must protect those workers who need access to private properties and children who are at risk.
Jim Fitzpatrick Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse said: A number of organisations CWU, Dogs Trust, Battersea Dogs Home, RSPCA, Association of Chief Police Officers all want a new Law that has a preventive effect and improves public safety. Tackling the real cause of the problem relates to the owner’s acts and omissions rather than the type of dog. The legislation must be amended to phase out the breed-specific legislation extend the law to cover all places, including private property, to ensure better public safety. We have seen a twelvefold increase in dog fighting between 2004 and 2008, according to figures from the RSPCA; 6,000-plus attacks on postal workers every year, according to the Communication Workers Union; 1,000-plus dogs seized by the Metropolitan police in 2009 and 2010, according to the Mayor of London’s office; and, sadly, as has been referred to, eight people killed and 197 seriously injured in the past four years. All of that is costing the taxpayer money, quite apart from the untold suffering. There is cross-party, animal welfare, police and public support for a new Law dealing with dangerous dogs and irresponsible owners.
Simon Wright Liberal Democrat MP for Norwich South: supported the urgent call to change the law stating that the behaviour of aggressive, violent dogs and their irresponsible owners has been raised with him by constituents time and time again and earlier this year he received a petition of more than 350 signatures from residents demanding that action to deal with aggressive dogs after a 10-year-old child was attacked by two dogs in a park and sustained serious injuries. He said many dogs have been deliberately trained by irresponsible owners to be aggressive and violent, and others have been neglected, abused and deprived of the love and attention that other pets receive and develop an aggressive personality as a result. Those owners have no respect for their animal, and instead see them as a means of gaining respect for themselves, but fear does not equate to respect. When we talk about dangerous dogs, it would often be more reasonable to refer to dangerous owners. Government policy should now focus on introducing a new law, new dog control orders and compulsory microchipping of dogs has been called for by the CWU, RSPCA and others.
Martin Horwood Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham said: Unless such matters are tackled with a degree of urgency, I fear that I will read more headlines like the one from the Gloucestershire Echo, “Savage dog went in for the kill”.
Paul Uppal Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West said:  If a person chooses to own and look after a dog, they should be legally responsible for the actions of that dog. In agreeing to take the dog into their home, they must ensure that the dog is safe and behaves appropriately wherever it is. The essence of the issue is the ownership of the dogs.
Willie Bain Labour MP for Glasgow North East said  There is great consensus across the Chamber that this problem must be dealt with for the benefit of people throughout the country. From 26 February 2011, my constituents have benefited from improvements to the law made by the Scottish Parliament with the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 which ensured that the legislation would apply to private property, so that postal workers and other employees, children and other dogs and animals would be protected. It also brought in a system of dog control notices—sometimes referred to as dog ASBOs—which place real responsibilities on the owner, in terms of their conduct. Conditions imposed by a notice can relate to such things as training and neutering of animals. There is a great deal in the Scottish approach that could be taken up by DEFRA for England and Wales. We can see from this debate that there is consensus across the House and the Government would have support from those on the Opposition Benches for the introduction of a Bill in 2012, after the next Queen’s Speech, to deal with the fact that the 1991 Act does not apply to private property, to deal with the lack of enforcement options available and to allow for compulsory microchipping. Battersea dogs and cats home, the Blue Cross, Guide Dogs for the Blind, the Kennel Club, Prospect, the Police Federation, the Royal College of Nursing, Unison, the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, Unite and, of course, the Communication Workers Union who have led the debate with their 'Bite-Back' Campaign all support the campaign for a change in the law in England Wales. Year by year we see that the case for change is strong and urgent - 6,000 postal workers are injured every year in dog attacks, Hospital admission statistics increasing, thousands injured and eight people have been killed. The case advanced by the public is clear: 88% of the public believe that change is needed. We need to move to an approach that is based less on the breed of the animal and more on the deed of the owner. We need to promote responsible dog ownership. We need to ensure that local authorities and police authorities, which are under great stress because of some of the Government’s public spending policies, have dedicated resources in place to deal with enforcement. The Opposition are prepared to work co-operatively with the Government, and if we move forward together, we can secure reforms that will be in the interests of animal welfare, employee safety and public safety.

Speaking after the debate the Union's National Health and Safety Officer Dave Joyce, who has been spearheading the Union's Bite-Back campaign since 2008 welcomed the positive debate and the support from MPs from all major parties, urging the coalition government to fulfil their pre-election pledge to the CWU and make an early positive announcement regarding new dangerous dogs legislation to protect Postmen and Women, 6000 of whom are attacked by dogs every year!. Scottish and Irish postal workers are already benefiting from new controls on dangerous dogs, introduced as a result of the Union's campaign. The new Scottish Law came into effect on 26 February with Northern Ireland's similar new law became law on 8 March. The Scottish Parliament passed the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 and the Northern Ireland Assembly passed the Dogs Amendment Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 both of which update Westminster's original 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act. Dave said we need the Westminster government to follow the Scottish and Irish lead by extending the law to include private property and a dog owners home so closing the loop hole which gives immunity to irresponsible owners from criminal prosecution when Postal Workers were attacked and injured on private land and premises which occurs in 70% of all dog attack cases on Postal Workers!. Unfortunately the Minister's reply (Jim Paice) was extremely poor with no new information and brought no indication of when the government will take action on this important issue. We will continue to press for a change in the law and are planning the next phases of our campaign in the knowledge of overwhelming cross-party support from back bench MP of all parties.

Dave has been pressing Defra and Home Office Ministers for action and has addressed several meetings of MPs and Lords in the Houses of Parliament. CWU and RSPCA have been facilitating a cross-party Dangerous Dogs working group of MPs which has become a powerful pressure group inside the houses of parliament. The CWU has written to all MPs and Lords on several occasions and along with RSPCA and 20 other organisations including Trade Unions, Animal Welfare Charities, Police, Dog Wardens, Royal College of Nurses and British Vets organisations has formed a strong campaign alliance which has issued two detailed joint statements to government, MPs and Lords and organised several events, meetings and petitions.

6000 Postal Workers and 400 Telecom Workers are attacked by Dogs every year. Two Postmen were nearly killed in attacks in Sheffield 2007 and Cambridge 2008.

BITE - BACK CAMPAIGN AIMS
- new UK wide consolidated and strengthened Dog Control Laws, that prevents dog attacks on Postal Workers, Telecom Workers, other workers, children and the public,
- dog control laws to apply everywhere including private property, 
- the introduction of new preventative Dog Control Notices (DCNs) to be issued by Dog Wardens and Police Officers,
- compulsory Microchipping and/or Licensing of all dogs,
- compulsory Third Party Insurance cover for dogs,
- greater powers for and better enforcement of dog control Law by the Police and Local Authorities Dog Wardens,
- harsher sentences by the Courts for offending dangerous dog owners,
- better information, education and training for dog owners,
- raising public awareness of the serious problem and to generate support.

For more information, see the CWU's "Bite Back Campaign" Web Site pages at: http://www.cwu.org/dangerous-dogs-bite-back.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Yours Sincerely


Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer