Consultation
The consultation for this Bill did not ask any specific questions on including an aggravation to the offence for the theft of an assistance dog. However, a theme from the 76 responses to the consultation question on the impact any new law could have on different individuals in society in terms of those with protected characteristics (question 9) noted that:
A theme among these [responses] was how dog abduction can affect people who are impacted by disability and who rely on assistance dogs, noting how a reduction in such crime might have a disproportionately positive impact on them.