Chamber and committees

The risk that any veterinary medicine might pose to human health or the environment is considered by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate during the authorisation process for new medicines. A product will not gain a marketing authorisation under veterinary medicines legislation unless it is considered safe, efficacious and of high quality. A significant component of the safety assessment includes the potential for a medicine to impact upon human health and the environment including non-target animals such as wild salmon and trout. If there is a risk that cannot be mitigated or controlled then a medicine will not be authorised.

In addition to this assessment, The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) includes conditions relating to antibiotic use in the site specific licences and associated documentation issued to fish farm operators under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011. It should be noted however that over the last decade, since the advent of vaccination of most farmed salmon, antibiotic use in fish farming has been generally at a low level. A mean of 9 marine cage fish farm sites report using antibiotic products to SEPA in any given year since records began to be compiled in 2002. In any given year there are typically approximately 250 active marine cage fish farm sites in use in Scotland, thus on average perhaps 3.6% of marine cage fish farms have reported antibiotic use in any given year.

Little is known about the paths of migrating salmon and sea trout smolts in Scottish waters. A major difference is that sea trout will spend extended periods of time in coastal waters while salmon simply move through such areas on the way to offshore feeding grounds. The Scottish Government is currently funding a research project aimed at examining the migratory routes of salmon smolts on the west coast of Scotland.

Fish farming businesses are authorised by Marine Scotland under the Aquatic Animal Health (Scotland) Regulations 2009. They are also required to apply to The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) for a Controlled Activities Regulation consent. SEPA then conduct a programme of monitoring and evaluation of the use of medicines at each farm, ensuring consent conditions are not breached.

All authorised fish farm businesses in Scotland are inspected under the Aquaculture & Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2007 by Marine Scotland for satisfactory measures in place to contain fish and prevent escapes with a range of sanctions available where non-compliance is identified.

The Aquaculture & Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2013 includes specific powers to prescribe statutory technical requirements to ensure the installation and deployment of fish farming equipment that is well maintained and appropriate for site conditions. It also imposes a duty for training to use prescribed equipment and requirements on operators to keep records.

On 11 June 2015, The Scottish Government published a Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture, available at: www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/06/5747

Alongside statutory training, the standard will ensure all finfish farms in Scotland have the appropriate equipment and operational procedures to help prevent escapes.

There is no statutory limit for a maximum number of sea lice allowable on any aquaculture site or on any individual aquaculture animal. There are sea lice treatment threshold limits within The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO) Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Farming – National Treatment Strategy. The SSPO also publishes quarterly fish health management reports which include sea lice counts for 30 areas across Scotland http://scottishsalmon.co.uk/category/science-behind-fish-farming/fish-health/.

The River basin management plans (RBMP) introduced in response to the EU Water Framework Directive, identifying water bodies that are at risk of failing to meet good ecological status or good ecological potential and prioritises them for improvement. Assessment of local fish assemblages including Atlantic salmon contributes to the overall ecological status of water bodies. Consequently, where local salmon populations are impacted by anthropogenic activity, this should trigger a downgrade of the waterbody status and subsequent management action through the RBMP process.

A development review is carried out at 27 to 30 months. There are opportunities to discuss development at the six to eight week health review and at the two months, three months, four months, 12 to 13 months and three to five years immunisation contacts. Vision screening takes place in the pre-school year, with the exception of one health board where it takes place in Primary One.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is supporting NHS boards to increase access to psychological intervention at an early stage in the patient journey by training a range of staff to deliver evidence-based low intensity psychological interventions. These are now widely available, and include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)-based guided self-help and behavioural activation.

NES support training in CBT, which has been shown to reduce relapse rates in depression when compared to medication alone. NES also support training in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, which also reduces relapse rates in depression. These two high intensity interventions can, therefore, help prevent a chronic illness from developing.

Health reviews are carried out within the first 24 hours and within the first 10 days of life. Motor, social and other skills development are reviewed at six to eight weeks; verbal, motor, social and other skills are reviewed at 27 to 30 months, and there are opportunities to discuss development in these skills at the immunisation contacts at two months, three months, four months, 12 to 13 months and three to five years. Vision screening takes place in the pre-school year, with the exception of one health board where it takes place in Primary One.

Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) activities are funded through a combination of grant-in-aid support and charging to recover economic costs of its regulatory actions. These support SEPA’s delivery of its statutory obligations with regard to the delivery of the relevant regulatory requirements.

Planning authorities are responsible for (a) monitoring and (b) enforcing planning conditions relating to onshore windfarms and hydro schemes. It is for the landowner, unless otherwise specified, to ensure that the conditions of consent for development on their land are accorded with.

Funding is not ring-fenced for these purposes but comes from the general local government settlement.