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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 25 July 2025
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Displaying 1390 contributions

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Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Petition

Meeting date: 22 May 2024

Elena Whitham

Some of the things that I was going to ask about have already been picked up on. Could the 2021 statutory animal licensing framework be extended to include greyhound racing and could there be a licensing approach that might address some of our concerns? With my former local authority hat on, I wonder what the implications would be for local government if that were to be extended. My plea, I guess, is that Government actively looks at that matter and at ensuring that any regulations that come forward are considered by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and licensing officers and that their concerns are taken into account. Is this one of the only ways in which we can have more regulation in this area, given the crossover impact of people in Scotland racing their dogs in England?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Petition

Meeting date: 22 May 2024

Elena Whitham

I understand the distinction that needs to be made, but following on from my colleague Emma Roddick’s point, we are taking evidence in this place on breeders who have 40 dogs in kennels in Scotland and are racing them in tracks in England. The welfare of those dogs is of paramount concern to this committee and indeed the petitioners. It comes back to the 2006 act and the balancing out of what is the acceptable level of harm that may come to those dogs and what are the welfare concerns. I do not know whether you have any points to come back on.

09:15  

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Petition

Meeting date: 22 May 2024

Elena Whitham

Yes. Further to what the convener was asking about, is the Government considering extending the licensing requirements to include greyhound racing? We know that people were evenly split down the middle in the consultation, but does this approach provide us with a way of starting to address some of the issues, if indeed the member’s bill does not reach its conclusion?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Petition

Meeting date: 22 May 2024

Elena Whitham

Good morning, minister. The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission concluded that

“a dog bred for racing in Scotland currently has poorer welfare than the average of other dogs in the population.”

I want to focus on that for a little while. The report refers to how they are bred, how they are reared, trained and raced, and indeed how they are retired if they get to that point, or how they might end their lives by being put down. It also talks about the issue of wastage within the industry. Does the Scottish Government agree with the overall conclusion that dogs that are bred for greyhound racing have a poorer standard of welfare throughout their lives?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Petition

Meeting date: 22 May 2024

Elena Whitham

On the assertion about them being pets, I think this is where we get a bit confused about how the tracks operate in two different places. We have the issue with GBGB tracks that the animals must be kept in kennels; they cannot be part of a family set-up. I am not so sure if that works for dogs that are raced at the only track that we currently have in Scotland. I do not know whether they are able to be part of the family or whether they have to be kennelled and not kept as part of the family as a pet in order to race. That is where it gets a bit confusing for us in trying to unpick the differences between here and England.

Meeting of the Parliament

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 22 May 2024

Elena Whitham

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the net zero secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding any plans to review any unintended impacts of the fourth national planning framework on energy policy. (S6O-03457)

Meeting of the Parliament

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 22 May 2024

Elena Whitham

Although I fully appreciate the broader intention behind NPF4’s energy policy principles and our move towards a just transition, many of my constituents have brought to my attention the cumulative effect of a high volume of wind farms, such as the five that are proposed in the north Carrick area alone, with turbine heights in excess of 200m. Can the cabinet secretary explain how NPF4 allows my constituents to raise the impact that that might have on their communities, their amenities, private water supplies and, indeed, local biodiversity? How can we ensure that local voices are heard?

Meeting of the Parliament

Housing Emergency

Meeting date: 15 May 2024

Elena Whitham

[Made a request to intervene.]

Meeting of the Parliament

Housing Emergency

Meeting date: 15 May 2024

Elena Whitham

Will Colin Smyth take an intervention?

Meeting of the Parliament

Housing Emergency

Meeting date: 15 May 2024

Elena Whitham

In the spirit of consensus, does Colin Smyth agree that, given the reduction of 62 per cent in financial transaction receipts, which had given us a huge amount of flexibility in ramping up our social housing build, as we can see from the per capita build figures, we have to work collectively to figure out how we can unlock some of the money that we have so that we can invest it in social housing. Working across the chamber, we should be able to do that.