The Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW) was established in the mid 1980’s to further the cause of animal welfare by all means available to the parliaments at Westminster and Europe.

The group has been fortunate to be chaired by strongly supportive Politicians. 

The group owes much of its success to Dame Janet Fookes and Roger Gale MP (both Conservatives), who tirelessly worked hard to establish the group.  From 1997 until 2005 Ian Cawsey MP (Labour) Chaired the Group, while from June 2005, Eric Martlew MP (Labour) has taken on the role.  The group continues to go from strength to strength.

All-party groups are relatively informal committees compared with official committees of the House. However, their success at raising issues and awareness in both the UK Parliament and Europe is recognised by most NGOs.  There are over 240 subject All Party Groups not to mention an All Party Group for every country.

Group activities range from an informal gathering such as receptions to formal presentations by organisations at meetings and letter writing. APGAW has also in the past organaised visits to animal establishments and written and commissioned reports.