At its meeting on 6 October 2020, the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the delegated powers provisions in the Welfare of Dogs (Scotland) Bill ("the Bill") at Stage 1.

The Committee submits this report to the lead Committee for the Bill under Rule 9.6.2 of the Standing Orders.

This Member’s Bill was introduced by Christine Grahame MSP on 1 June 2020.

The stated aim of the Bill is to improve the health and welfare of puppies and dogs by improving the regulation of breeding practices and by encouraging responsible dog acquisition and ownership.

The Bill proposes to achieve this by:

• lowering the threshold number of puppy litters that can be born before a breeder requires a dog breeders’ license from 5 to 3, thereby bringing more breeders within the current dog breeding licensing regime;

• establishing a Scotland-wide puppy litter register and requiring anyone who breeds a litter of puppies to register the litter before advertising, selling or giving away any of the puppies; and

• establishing a Code of Practice with a view to encouraging responsible dog acquisition and ownership.

The Member in Charge has provided the Parliament with a Delegated Powers Memorandum ("DPM") on the delegated powers provisions in the Bill.

The Bill confers 7 powers to make subordinate legislation on the Scottish Ministers:

• Section 8(1)(b) – Power to impose a fee for registering a litter

• Section 8(2)(g) – power to specify additional registration information

• Section 11(1)(c) – Power to specify changes in registration information that trigger a requirement to update the register

• Section 15(1) – Provision for or in connection with the deletion from the register of old entries

• Section 17(1) – power to authorise further access to the register information

• Section 19(1) – Enforcement generally, read with 19(2)

• Section 20(1) – Making of code of practice

The DPM sets out the reasoning for taking the delegated powers in the Bill and the parliamentary scrutiny procedure that has been chosen.