Animals Act 1971 (Amendment) Bill

I regret to tell my hon. Friend that the Bill will not assist them at all. That is the issue. It takes us back to earlier discussions of whether we should have compulsory insurance for animal ownership. I suspect, however, that in the circumstances my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr described, even if we had legislation making insurance for dog owners compulsory, certain irresponsible people would still not be insured. Unfortunately, some people are irresponsible and do not insure when they should; for example, at any one time, something like a fifth of motorists are not insured. There are, of course, arrangements in the motoring industry to compensate those who are injured by uninsured, negligent drivers, because, unfortunately, some people are irresponsible and do not comply with the law.