Chamber and committees

As I have said, movements are very infrequent and involve very small quantities that come directly into Scotland from the Republic of Ireland. I do not know whether officials have the exact numbers.

As I have said, we have proposed these amendments as a result of the engagement that we have had with animal welfare stakeholders in developing the detailed guidance for local authorities. We work closely with the likes of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. We have worked with it in developing training and a toolkit that can be used. We will, of course, monitor this closely. We are in regular engagement with the SSPCA, Cats Protection and other animal welfare charities and organisations, so, of course, through that regular engagement, we will pick up on any issues that there are. We also have the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, which deals with particular issues. I just want to assure members and the committee that we are in close contact with all our stakeholders in the hope that we can pick up any early issues that emerge through this process. The licensing regulations that we introduced and the amendments that we are proposing today have been welcomed by those stakeholders.

Good morning. I am happy to appear before the committee today to discuss this amending instrument, which makes some minor amendments to the 2021 licensing regulations, which were approved by the Scottish Parliament in February and came into force on 1 September. As the amendments that are proposed are not contentious and they are monitored both in terms of their impact and their scope, I will keep my opening remarks brief. The amendments that are being considered today amend the conditions that are applicable to two out of the six licence types that are available under the 2021 licensing regulations, namely animal rehoming licences and animal welfare establishment licences. Other types of licence are unaffected.

The change that is specific to animal rehoming activities is the removal of the prohibition on the supply of kittens—that is, cats under six months old—as pets if they are not bred by the licence holder. That change will permit persons who hold a licence to engage in animal rehoming activities, including foster carers working with animal welfare charities, to rehome kittens. The need for the change was brought to the attention of the Scottish Government during discussions with Cats Protection on the development of detailed guidance for local authorities. Given the significant issues with the unlicensed puppy trade, we do not propose to remove the corresponding prohibition on the supply of puppies, which applies to holders of a licence to engage in animal rehoming activities, as to do so would, no doubt, encourage those involved in that trade to attempt to use animal rehoming as a cover for their unlicensed breeding and dealing activities.

Stakeholders also brought to our attention during discussions on the development of guidance for local authorities that there would be merit in mirroring certain safeguards that are included in the conditions applicable to rehoming activities in those that apply to animal welfare establishments. Accordingly, these amending regulations will prohibit holders of a licence to operate an animal welfare establishment from supplying unweaned mammals, mammals weaned at an age at which they should not have been weaned, non-mammals that are incapable of feeding themselves and puppies, kittens, ferrets and rabbits aged under eight weeks. Although it is very unlikely that a holder of an animal welfare establishment licence would supply such an animal, we have agreed that the inclusion of the additional conditions is appropriate and merited, as it further safeguards the welfare of particularly vulnerable animals.

I hope that the committee will agree that, although the changes that we seek to make to the 2021 regulations are relatively minor in nature, they are important because they remove a restriction that has the potential to impact on the rehoming activities of Cats Protection, given its routine use of foster homes as part of its rehoming activities. It also brings forward some additional protections for particularly vulnerable animals under the care of those operating animal welfare establishments.

I will be happy to take any questions that the committee may have.

I thank the member for raising that concern, but I would say that we are proposing this amendment only because it came to light through discussions with Cats Protection as we were developing the guidance for local authorities. We did not have any objection to making this amendment to the regulations, but, of course, we want to monitor the situation to make sure that there are no adverse impacts. We are in regular engagement with animal welfare stakeholders and with other organisations, too, so we would be in close contact if any issues came to light. Certainly, from what we have proposed so far and from discussions with Cats Protection and other animal welfare stakeholders, this is an amendment that has been welcomed.

Obviously, a consultation was undertaken when we were introducing the licensing regulations, but some of the issues that we are looking to address today came to light only when we were developing the guidance for local authorities and working with our animal welfare stakeholders. We have been working closely with them through this process and in developing that guidance. That is why we are bringing the amending regulations forward today to address those issues. Although there was no formal consultation on the amending regulations, we are in close engagement all the time so that we can identify such issues and address them.

Again, that is something that we would monitor closely, but I would say that the licensing regulations that we introduced and which came into force on 1 September modernised the whole licensing system. They made it more robust, so I think that we have gone a long way in trying to tackle some of the issues that have been experienced, but of course this is something that we will continue to monitor. As I said in previous responses, we are continually in close engagement with animal welfare stakeholders, so, if other issues emerge that we need to consider, we will, of course, look to do that.

Thank you. I had a very busy visit to Shetland, and, of course, I met fishers and people from the seafood industry when I was there. It will not be my last visit there; I fully intend to keep that engagement going and to visit again when I can.

I understand that there might be concerns about electronic monitoring, but I think that it is a positive measure. It helps us to build a picture, and, when it comes to monitoring and enforcement, it fills in those data gaps, so I think that it will work to the benefit of fishers. Right now, people can be accused of entering into or undertaking activity in marine protected areas when they have not done so. Electronic monitoring will help to protect the industry from such accusations.

Monitoring also helps us to build data and evidence. As I said, we have outlined our plans to develop a suite of highly protected marine areas, as well as introducing management measures for marine protected areas and protecting priority marine features. The ability to look at where vessel activity is taking place will be vital in that regard, so I see monitoring as a positive step.

I understand the concerns around that and I have received a fair bit of correspondence on the matter from various members. However, in response to freedom of information requests, we have published information that shows that that is not necessarily the case.

In addition, compliance on some of the other issues that we see is the responsibility of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. I requested a meeting with the MCA, which has been arranged for some time soon—I cannot remember the exact date—to discuss some of those issues and how we can prevent some of the conflicts from taking place.

The measures that we introduce in Scotland are not only for our vessels. We want to ensure that all vessels are part of the programme and that it is implemented in a fair and transparent way.

Yes. I am sure that the committee will be aware that we appointed Professor Russel Griggs to lead on that work. I would be happy to send the committee the terms of reference if you do not have it already.

We are expecting a report by the end of the year. The first few months are about fact finding, and at that stage we expect recommendations from Professor Griggs on which areas we need to look at for reform and other pieces of work. In the next few months, we expect to see the initial outcome from the first phase of the review, before we go on to look at further actions.

We have licences relating to a number of species in Scotland. We have talked about licensing for grouse moors and we have licences in relation to beavers. Some of that work has been set out in the co-operation agreement with the Scottish Green Party. It is about ensuring that our licensing scheme works in the way that we hope it does and that it is effective.