The Welsh Government has announced that a £1.1 million Food Business Investment of grant aid will be made available for small and medium size slaughterhouses in Wales. 

In a written statement on 22 March, the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths AM, said that the package would cover "welfare friendly infrastructure and facilities" along with the "installation and upgrading of CCTV monitoring systems".

A step closer to mandatory CCTV in slaughterhouses

The statement follows news in February that legislation on mandatory CCTV will be introduced in England from May 2018, with the Cabinet Secretary also stating that she wanted Wales' slaughterhouses to be "fully prepared" as she continues to "explore opportunities to legislate in the longer term".

Although the moves are welcome and an important step forward, we're continuing our call on the Welsh Government to bring in legislation to ensure CCTV is mandatory.

CCTV in slaughterhouses is a mandatory requirement of our farm animal welfare standards, which are used by the RSPCA Assured higher welfare certification scheme.

CCTV will improve animal welfare

Claire Lawson, our assistant director of external relations in Wales, said:

"RSPCA Cymru very much welcomes news that funding is being made available for abattoirs in Wales to install CCTV – this is certainly a step in the right direction.

However, we would like to see legislation introduced to make CCTV in abattoirs mandatory, and will continue to urge the Welsh Government to act in Wales.

RSPCA Cymru believes that the introduction of CCTV systems will provide the public with evidence relating to the quality of life of farm animals at the time of slaughter, whilst acting as a deterrent to animal cruelty, as well as a safeguarding and training tool for staff.

Polling has indicated 82 percent of the public in Wales support the introduction of CCTV, and we believe this would be an important step in the improvement of farm animal welfare in this country".

More consumers are expecting higher welfare produce

Are you in the eight out of ten people who buy chicken meat and expect it to be farmed to higher welfare standards? Or in the 82 percent of the UK who want to see subsidies used to improve animal welfare? If this is you then look out for the RSPCA Assured logo on packets of food, where farmers have to meet our welfare standards to give animals reared better lives.

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