Official Report 197KB pdf
Avian Influenza (Preventive Measures) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/530)<br />Avian Influenza<br />(Preventive Measures in Zoos) (Scotland) Regulations 2005<br />(SSI 2005/531)
Agenda item 2 is subordinate legislation. We have two instruments to consider under the negative procedure. The Subordinate Legislation Committee has considered SSI 2005/530 and SSI 2005/531 and has made comments on both of them—an extract from the Official Report of the appropriate Subordinate Legislation Committee meeting has been circulated to colleagues. In view of the public interest in avian flu, and for members' benefit, Executive officials are in attendance to answer questions. I welcome Charles Milne, the chief veterinary officer for Scotland, and Neil Ritchie, the head of the Executive's animal health and welfare strategy branch.
According to the background notes that we have received, the Executive did not undertake any formal stakeholder consultation on the instruments. How will you involve stakeholders in the future? Although we have the Scottish statutory instruments in front of us, the issue is not going to go away. How will you work with stakeholders on the issue?
It is an on-going process. The regulations are the most quickly produced pieces of legislation that I have ever been involved with. Because of the timetable that the European Union gave us, we had less than a week in which to lay the instruments.
I cannot speak for other committee members, but I would find it useful to have some feedback. For reasons of timescale, the SSIs have been presented to the committee very rapidly and without consultation. I understand the reasons for that, but it would be useful to have a summary of the work that you are doing with stakeholders after the instruments are passed to enable our continued scrutiny of the issue.
That will not be a problem. We can make available to the committee the minutes of our main meetings.
Members do not have a huge number of questions today, but the background information will be useful to us in the future. It will enable us to scrutinise the effectiveness of what you have been doing. If there are any issues that you want to bring to the public's attention, putting them before the committee is an effective way of ensuring that people become aware of what is happening—even if it is happening quickly for the obvious reasons that you have set out in the papers that accompany the SSIs.
On the basis of your last comment, I take the opportunity to plug one of the key ways in which we are raising awareness of the issues among a wide range of stakeholders. Last night, we issued a news release in which we announced that we have commissioned the Scottish Agricultural College to deliver a series of seminars throughout Scotland that are aimed at raising awareness of avian influenza issues. The first of those will be in Pathhead on Monday evening. The seminars will explain the practical biosecurity-related precautions that industry can take, as well as the statutory background.
As there are no further questions, I thank you for attending the committee. Your attendance has been useful.
We now move into private session. It was agreed at our previous meeting that we would consider our draft report on the Environmental Levy on Plastic Bags (Scotland) Bill in private. I therefore invite the official report, broadcasting, members of the public and any visiting members to leave.
Meeting continued in private until 12:27.