CIEH Animal Welfare Conference

Adam Diep, Senior Policy Advisor, Better Enforcement team, Transforming Animal Health and Welfare Directorate, Defra.  Adam has been with Defra since 2015. Since November 2022, Adam has been working on the introduction and implementation of penalty notices for animal health and welfare offences. He led on the drafting of the consultation on the scope of the penalty notice regime and the statutory guidance for enforcement authorities on the use of penalty notices. Prior to this role, Adam held various roles in Ministerial offices with the last being Senior Private Secretary to the Defra Lords’ Minister. His role covered a range of policy areas including animal health, welfare and biosecurity.

Claire Ingham - Team Leader, Better Enforcement team, Transforming Animal Health and Welfare Directorate, Defra.  Claire has been with Defra since 2020 leading on better enforcement including the introduction of the Animals ( Penalty Notices) Act 2022. Prior to joining Defra, Claire spent over 20 years at the Animal and Plant Health Agency covering various roles. These included roles such as Animal Health Officer which involved dealing with several significant disease outbreaks including swine fever and the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak. Claire then became a team leader managing diverse teams of veterinary, plant, and bee inspectors across the southeast of England before her move to Defra.

David Kingstone, Licensing and Environmental Compliance Team Leader, R B of Kinston-upon-Thames. David graduated with a BSc in Environmental Health from UWE Bristol in 2000 and has worked in almost all areas of the broad Environmental Health discipline since that time after starting his career in food safety. Since 2016, David has been part of the senior leadership team for the Shared Environment Service for the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Sutton and is responsible for leading professionals in Licensing, Pollution Control and Environmental Enforcement. David also holds a voluntary post in international sport and was appointed to the Tournament Technical Committee for Wheelchair Basketball at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Kate Ford, Animal Health Inspector at The City of London Corporation.  Kate has been working in animal health and welfare for 15 years starting with overseas rescue charity work and then animal education having returned to the UK in 2010. She joined the RSPCA in 2012 as an Inspector in North and East London, dealing with neglect and cruelty investigations and prosecution cases. Since joining the City of London Corporation in 2019 she became a suitably qualified Animal Health Inspector and has carried out over 500 inspections under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018. She is the lead officer for Zoo Licensing and sits on the London Animal Welfare Forum working group. The Animal Health Team are also responsible for investigating and detaining illegal imports in the Greater London area.

Kate Hughes, Environmental Health Practitioner for Halton Borough Council. After graduating from the University of Salford Kate considers herself fortunate to have had a very varied career in Environmental Health over the last 16 years! During this time she has worked in the fields of environmental protection, housing and animal licensing and welfare. Day to day Kate is lead officer on animal licensing and welfare. She has a great love of all animals and enjoys all aspects of licensing particularly if there are dogs involved!! Kate has led on complex investigations including prosecutions under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 and the Animal Welfare Act 2006. In particular, Kate has a keen interest in dangerous dogs legislation and co-authored the authority’s ‘Who Does What’ memorandum of understanding around responsibility for dog control which was rolled out across Cheshire and Merseyside. Away from the world of animals, Kate also holds the Diploma in Acoustics and Noise Control from the Institute of Acoustics. Kate has extensive knowledge of enforcing noise legislation in domestic settings and has used anti-social behaviour legislation to deal with persistent non-compliance with abatement notices.

Lee Gingell has served as the RSPCA Public Affairs Manager (Local Government) since 2021. He manages the RSPCA’s relationships with the local public sector, including local authorities, housing providers, police forces, and NHS providers. His focus is on promoting collaborative efforts to create a world where all animals are treated with respect, kindness, and compassion. Lee also oversees the RSPCA's PawPrints awards, which recognise and celebrate local public sector bodies that not only meet but exceed legal minimums. The areas of recognition include various aspects such as stray dog services, animal licensing, housing, contingency planning, and kennelling.

Dr Samantha Gaines heads the RSPCA’s Companion Animals Science and Policy department. She leads a specialist team that uses evidence to advocate for good lives for companion, working, and sporting animals through corporate and Government policy change and human behaviour change. She is the lead on a variety of issues, including dog control, racing greyhounds, and dogs kept for working purposes. Before working at the RSPCA, Sam worked as a research scientist for the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. She managed various projects studying the behaviour, performance and welfare of working dogs. She has an MsC in applied animal behaviour and welfare as well as a PhD from Bristol University which studied the effects of housing and husbandry on the welfare of kennelled dogs.

Dr Sarah Chapman BVM&S MSc DZooMed MRCVS, Co-Director, Chapman Zoo Consultancy. Sarah is an experienced veterinary surgeon having worked in a number of large zoos in the UK. She has a RCVS certificate and diploma in Zoo Medicine, is a RCVS recognised specialist and has a master’s degree in Wild Animal Health. She is co-director of Chapman Zoo Consultancy providing specialist services to animal collections and mentoring and training to veterinary and zoo professionals. She is a Secretary of State list one zoo inspector and an inspector for local authorities with respect to animal welfare, dangerous animals and zoo licensing.

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