GOV.UK
Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC)
Our terms of reference
FAWC is an expert committee required to:
- advise Defra and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales:
- on the welfare of farmed animals
- on any legislative or other changes that might be considered to improve standards of animal welfare
- provide independent scientific support and advice as required by on the protection of animals at the time of killing
- publish its advice
Our priorities
Our priorities for 2015 to 2016 are to:
- complete our assessment of the evidence base for farm animal welfare policy
- finish a review of the welfare of beef cattle
- investigate possible links between the welfare of farmers and their livestock
- respond to governments’ requests for advice about the welfare of farmed animals at killing
- consider the animal welfare implications of sustainable farming and climate change
- review aspects of the welfare of pigs
- work closely with the European Forum of Animal Welfare Councils (EuroFAWC)
Opinions and reports
Our main publications are reports, opinions and letters of advice to governments
Latest
Annual report
Our annual report for 2012 to 2013 has details about the committee’s working methods, published advice and ongoing work.
Committees
Our committees keep a watching brief on welfare issues within the broad subject bands:
- ethics, economics, education and regulation
- pigs, poultry and fish
- ruminants
- welfare at killing
- evidence base for farm animal welfare
- farm animal welfare within sustainable livestock agriculture
- animal breeding
Assessment of farm animal welfare - Five Freedoms and a Life Worth Living
We believe that good animal welfare implies both physical fitness and a sense of wellbeing. Our Report on Farm Animal Welfare in Great Britain: Past, Present and Future, 2009 explains how the Five Freedoms form a logical and comprehensive framework for analysis of animal welfare and goes on to outline our position that all farm animals should have a life worth living, from their point of view, and that an increasing proportion should have a good life.
Appointments
A new member has been appointed to FAWC effective from 1 January 2015 - Dr Maria Carmen Hubbard – an agricultural economist. Carmen is a lecturer in Rural Economy at the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University.
Our members
Members of this group are:
- Peter Jinman, Chair, past President, Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
- Professor Michael Appleby, Chief Scientific Adviser, World Animal Protection
- Martin Barker, pig farmer
- Professor Henry Buller, Chair, Rural Geography and Director of the BA Human Geography Programme, University of Exeter
- Dr Andy Butterworth, Senior Lecturer, Bristol University Veterinary School
- Dr Joanne Conington, Livestock Geneticist, Scottish Rural College
- Richard Cooper, veterinary surgeon
- Huw Davies, sheep farmer, Member of the Wales Animal Health and Welfare Framework Group
- Mike Elliott, Fellow, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
- Dr David Grumett, Chancellor’s Fellow in Christian Ethics and Practical Theology, University of Edinburgh
- Dr Maria Carmen Hubbard, agricultural economist
- Richard Jennison, veterinary surgeon
- Gwyn Jones, dairy farmer, former Vice President of NFU
- Richard Kempsey, poultry farmer
- Professor Richard Moody, fellow of the Institute for Food Science and Technology
- Mark White, veterinary surgeon
- Steve Wotton, Senior Lecturer, University of Bristol’s School of Veterinary Sciences
Minutes
Contact
Email: fawcsecretariat@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: 0207 238 6340 / 4926 / 5016
FAWC Secretariat
Area 5D, Nobel House
17 Smith Square
LONDON
SW1P 3JR