Current status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 8 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Deer Working Group did not contain any practitioners from the deer stalking community, in light of reports of their expressed interest in participating.
The purpose of the Deer Working Group (DWG) was to “examine the issues over the standards of deer management in Scotland and recommend changes to help resolve these issues in ways that promote sustainable deer management”.
Therefore, the DWG was comprised of experts from both deer management and environmental backgrounds. The DWG included a number of individuals who represented those, or were themselves, directly involved in deer management. Andrew Barbour, acting Chair of the DWG from September 2018, is a farmer and forester with experience in managing deer, and Robin Callendar has had over 30 years’ experience in deer management as a land manager. Alongside DWG members, Richard Cooke then Chair of the Association for Deer Management Groups, served as an external adviser. The DWG terms of reference and member profiles are available on the Scottish Government website.