Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has held two previous consultations, in 2007 and 2015. We had also asked the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission to consider the matter, leading to the establishment of the SAWC Dog Training Working Group in March 2021 and this has led to a number of discussions between SAWC, animal welfare charities, and scientists, facilitated by Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has recently taken multiple steps towards encouraging animal farmers to make transitions to improve animal welfare, such as our 2026 consultations on the proposed ban on keeping laying hens, pullets and breeder layers in cages and proposed changes to lamb castration and tail docking methods (to improve welfare through usage of new methods with anesthesia and pain relief), which we held in collaboration with the UK and Welsh Governments. In 2024 we also updated the Welfare of Farmed Animals (Scotland) Regulations 2010 to include updated pig welfare guidance.

While the Scottish Government has not carried out its own assessment of the prevalence of the trade in exotic animals, we did fund the Scottish Rural College (SRUC) to undertake, under the direction of the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, a comprehensive review of the evidence on the welfare of exotic pets in Scotland. The SRUC published its findings in November 2022. Additionally, in 2021 and 2022, the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission published interim and final reports on exotic pets in Scotland which included its findings on the trade and supply of exotic pets.

At this time, the Scottish Government has no plans to regulate this trade; however, we continue to consider the findings of the SRUC and SAWC reports and engage with relevant stakeholders to inform future policy, including the need for further regulation.

Scottish Ministers remain fully committed to transparency regarding who receives public subsidies for (a) forestry, (b) farming, (c) nature restoration and (d) other land use in the current parliamentary session.

In particular, further to our recent introduction of the required regulations and their approval by Parliament – following imminent planned closure of the UK website by Defra –steps have now been taken for the Scottish Government to implement the regulations and continue to publish data relating to Scotland for beneficiaries of CAP legacy schemes.

The first publication was made on the 30th June 2026 for the data relating to all CAP legacy schemes subsidy payments made to beneficiaries in Scotland during the EU financial year from 16 October 2024 to 15 October 2025 and this data will remain available for two years, until June 2028.

This publication will include the names of all beneficiaries apart from those who received less than the equivalent of 1,250 in total subsidy during the year that are not shown in the spreadsheet. In these cases, payment amounts are included, but beneficiary names have been removed. For the purposes of this publication , 1,250 has been converted to a sterling equivalent of £1,114.

Similar publications will be made on the 30th June in subsequent years throughout the current parliamentary session.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01913 on 3 August 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Between March and July 2025, the Scottish Government hosted five workshops to scope early options for introducing penalties for escapes from fish farms in Scotland, including the design and scale of financial penalties. Representatives from Salmon Scotland, the British Trout Association, Fisheries Management Scotland (FMS) and NatureScot participated in these discussions.

Subsequently, FMS and Salmon Scotland committed to explore a joint scheme, the detail of which was announced on 12 June 2026. The Scottish Government had no direct involvement in the development of the scheme, however we welcome this collaborative approach and action which will be taken where escapes occur.

The Scottish Government will consider the publication of relevant information that it holds related to the initial discussions with key stakeholders.

Local authorities are responsible for the development and delivery of flood protection schemes in their area. Since 2016, the Scottish Government has provided £612m to local authorities to support the delivery of flood protection schemes and wider flood resilience activities.

Funding for flood resilience is provided through the local authority general capital grant. This means that decisions related to it are agreed jointly by Ministers and COSLA Leaders following principle-based recommendations from the jointly attended Settlement and Distribution Group. Through this process, a new, more flexible, funding allocation was agreed for financial year 2026-2027. This means that local authorities can invest in local needs and priorities from their local Flood Risk Management Plans.

In parallel we have funded SEPA to develop a Flood Advisory Service that will improve the governance and delivery of high value flood protection schemes across Scotland, learning the lessons from delivery over the last 10 years. Work is ongoing with COSLA to ensure a new funding model is in place to support the delivery of the next programme of high value flood protection schemes once the Flood Advisory Service is operational.

This would be an operational matter for Scottish Water. It publishes information on its website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/About-Us/What-We-Do/Urban-Waters-Routemap.

This would be an operational matter for Scottish Water. It publishes information on its website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/About-Us/What-We-Do/Urban-Waters-Routemap.

The Scottish Government is committed to reducing avoidable food waste across the supply chain and in households, to help work towards UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 to halve food waste by 2030.

Our recent Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland, available on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/circular-economy-strategy-scotland/, identifies the food system as a priority sector. Actions being taken to reduce food waste include the Government working with stakeholders on effective options to implement mandatory reporting of food waste and surplus by businesses. Requiring business to report on their food waste and surplus is intended to improve understanding on where and why food waste arises and what action can be taken to prevent it.

In addition, Zero Waste Scotland is developing an intervention plan to support long-term household food waste reduction. This includes identifying, testing and refining a range of interventions to help reduce avoidable food waste in households.

We have also commissioned research through ClimateXChange on circular economy opportunities in agriculture, including reducing on-farm food loss, and will explore how these findings can inform future action.

These actions will support Scotland's efforts to reduce avoidable food waste and make progress towards the 2030 UN target.