Animal Licensing Policy
3. Safeguarding
The main aim of animal licensing legislation is to maintain and improve animal welfare standards. However, there are other safeguarding considerations arising from licensable activities, in particular surrounding the protection of children and vulnerable persons and the Council must consider these in light of the Children Act 2004 and the Care Act 2014.
The Council is aware that some licensable activities may involve unsupervised contact with children and/or vulnerable persons (e.g. the tuition of a young person provided at a Riding Establishment, or entertaining at a children’s party with an exhibition of animals). In these circumstances convictions for offences involving the following will be considered particularly relevant when determining an application:
- violence,
- sex and indecency
- drugs
The Council would expect applicants and licence holders whose activities involve contact with children or vulnerable persons to:
- Have a written safeguarding policy and provide training for staff.
- Have evidence of a suitable vetting process for staff who have unsupervised contact with young/vulnerable persons.
The Council are not setting any specific standards in relation to these requirements, but each case will be considered on its own merits. For information purposes, a number of charitable organisations such as NSPCC offer advice on safeguarding issues, including policies and staff recruitment, which applicants and licence holders may find helpful. There is also guidance available on the Gov.uk website: