Dogs Scrutiny Commission

The Commission was set up to take a look at how to deal with the rising number of incidents involving dogs.

Over 1,000 people were injured in dog attacks in Lambeth during 2008, but the Commission did not have an anti-dog agenda. Its members recognised the valuable role played by dogs in many people's lives and of the responsible dog-owning majority in the borough as well.

The Commission was an investigative panel made up of four Lambeth Councillors. These were Councillor Diana Braithwaite, Councillor David Malone, Councillor Imogen Walker (Chair) and Councillor Clare Whelan.

In order to prepare the report and make recommendations to Lambeth Cabinet, the panel consulted and collected evidence from witnesses and experts and expressed thanks to the RSPCA, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, the Metropolitan Police Status Dogs Units, and residents who contributed.

That meant hearing from as wide a range of people as possible, and especially from residents.

The commission members used this evidence to produce a final report, which was adopted by the Environment and Community Safety Subcommittee at its meeting on Tuesday 13 July 2010.

Recommendations in the commission's final report included:

• provision for a 24-hour stray dog's service and that in meeting this target there is a variety of practices operated by other boroughs to consider in order to achieve full out of hours coverage in Lambeth
• the council commences enforcing all available legislation relating to dog ownership, treatment and fouling; and that a review of the options available to enable and facilitate that enforcement is conducted
• that the local authority co-operates and fully supports agencies that deal with cases where pet-owners have their animals removed to ensure bringing the full weight of the law against irresponsible owners, and
• a number of recommendations to extend compulsory micro-chipping to pets kept in council properties, encouraging their scanning by vets, and enhancing the service delivered by council officers.

Read the Dogs Scrutiny Commission final report.

The recommendations formed the basis of an action plan in response to the commission's report. It was published on 16 July 2010 and approved by the Cabinet  on 26 July 2010.

The Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Sub Committee received a 6-month update report on the implementation of the commission's findings in January 2011.