Commons Select Committee to recommend that RSPCA leave prosecuting to the Crown Prosecution Service

Commons Select Committee to recommend that RSPCA leave the prosecuting of animal welfare cases to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

This comes ahead of the publication of a report by the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (scheduled for Wednesday 16th November). The report will recommend that the RSPCA leave the prosecuting of animal welfare cases to the CPS. This would mirror the situation in Scotland where the Scottish SPCA (Scottish equivalent of the RSPCA) investigates case of animal abuse but then hands over evidence to the Procurator Fiscal (Scottish equivalent of the CPS).

The report (and its recommendations) were covered extensively in the Sunday papers (Mail on Sunday, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Times & The Observer). Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance, Tim Bonner, was quoted in the Mail on Sunday: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3930994/MPs-tell-bullying-RSPCA-drop-court-cases-Following-string-controversial-prosecutions-charity-told-pass-evidence-CPS-instead.html

The Countryside Alliance believes that the RSPCA has a legitimate role to play in routing out animal welfare problems but that the processing of evidence and decisions about whether to prosecute should be left to the CPS. It is argued that this would help boost public trust in the RSPCA, something that has been brought into question in recent months following the publication of a poll by the Third Sector magazine that shows that the RSPCA has plummeted in popularity: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rspca-ordered-to-get-its-paws-off-prosecutions-6h03zh7c3

In recent years the RSPCA has been criticised for becoming too political and eager to take people to court.