Chamber and committees

I met with the UN Special Rapporteur earlier this year and we welcome publication of the Report’s findings.

Our Strategic Approach to challenge and deter demand for prostitution and improve support for those with experience was published in February 2024. It recognises that prostitution cannot be considered in isolation, and sets out the Scottish Government’s collective approach, working with stakeholders across the wider public and third sector.

In common with the Nordic Model, the Strategy seeks to enable women to safely, and sustainably, exit from prostitution.

While we continue work with partners to develop a wider improved support pathway, we are now in a position to make progress with an initial phase of this work. Collaborating with Police Scotland, we will look to challenge demand and improve support for women with experience of commercial sexual exploitation.

I met with key stakeholders earlier this month to outline this collaboration, which includes:

• A secondment from the Scottish Government’s Violence against Women and Girls team to ensure that strategic connections to wider relevant Scottish Government initiatives are made.
• Supporting the further development of Operation Begonia (already operational in Aberdeen) to lead to a national and consistent policing approach.
• Funding Police Scotland to gather intelligence to understand the full extent of demand for commercial sexual exploitation across Scotland, helping to better reach victims and strengthen the response to tackling perpetrators

This is a key stage in implementing our Strategic Approach, ensuring that we increase the opportunities for women to access support whilst at the same time ever limiting the opportunities for those carrying out exploitation.

The Scottish Government want to ensure that changes to deer management policy are effective in achieving our climate and biodiversity aims.

We are aware that there are a range of views on changes to the female deer close seasons. That is why we undertook a full public consultation on proposals for deer legislation which included this issue. We have also ensured that animal welfare organisations have been fully consulted.

We are carefully considering all the responses, and we are in regular contact with gamekeepers and other land management stakeholders, on deer management issues. We will continue to work with them as our deer management legislation develops.

It is important to note that deer close seasons set a time period during which it is unlawful to kill a female deer, on deer welfare grounds. The timing of deer management outside these close seasons remans a decision for deer stalkers and, where appropriate, their employers.

Alongside our work to reduce deer populations which should have an impact on reducing the number of deer involved in road traffic accidents, we are also taking action at ‘hotspots’ where there are higher numbers of deer vehicle collisions.

NatureScot and Transport Scotland have been recording and analysing deer vehicle collisions (DVCs) across the Scottish road network since 2008. Between 2022 to 2025 several ‘hotspots’ for DVCs were identified as part of this work, most of which were in the Central Belt. NatureScot are now running a project looking at site-specific mitigation options in three Central Belt sites. This includes site visits to liaise with landowners over deer management.

Alongside this, a ‘Deer Aware’ media campaign is being run in the Central Belt. The campaign warns drivers on trunk roads of the increased likelihood of deer on the road in the spring.

We are also investigating the practicality of incorporating wildlife crossings into the design of the proposed replacement pedestrian bridges across the M8 trunk road near to Junction 3, Livingston. Such ‘green bridges’ can service multiple users and provide a safe alternative route for wildlife across busy roads.

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.

Approximately 80% of deer culling in Scotland is carried out by the private sector and in these circumstances stalkers are not employed to do so by the Scottish Government, its bodies or agencies

Where deer are culled on publicly owned land this is done by trained stalkers which can include: agency staff, for example those employed by Forestry and Land Scotland; contractors; and recreational stalkers.

It is for those managing the land to decide how and when to shoot deer in line with their responsibilities and their Deer Management Plan, with support from NatureScot

I would also refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-30224 on 8 October 2024 which sets out methods being trialled to support and incentivise individuals to cull more deer in some parts of Scotland.

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.

The most recent Programme for Government (2024-25) sets out the Scottish Government’s intention to introduce the Natural Environment Bill in this current parliamentary year.

The Scottish Government is committed to reducing high deer numbers in order to help us to achieve our biodiversity and carbon objectives. We are pursuing a range of actions to deliver this commitment including the provision of community deer larders and the three pilot incentive schemes led by NatureScot and the Cairngorms National Park Authority which launched in early autumn to financially support deer managers to control numbers of deer in specific parts of Scotland.

One of these pilots is in Central Scotland and focusses on lowland and urban roe deer management, as well as expanding red deer populations. We will work closely with NatureScot and the Cairngorms National Park as these pilots progress, and the findings from the pilots will be used to inform future deer management policy.

As deer management increases over the next few years, in line with our aim to increase the Scottish deer cull by 25%, we want to maximise the benefits deer management can bring.

We have seen peaks and increased venison numbers in the past that our established network of processors has been able to accommodate, and we are working with the sector to ensure that there is no barrier to venison processing in future years.

We have previously provided £80,000 through the Covid-19 Recovery Fund to support three new deer larders in Scotland. With regard to mitigating venison waste, we will consider all proposals for venison distribution to ensure as much as possible makes its way into the food chain safely. This is an important aspect of the revised Scottish Venison strategy launched last year and closer engagement with the wholesale sector is underway.

Officials will be meeting shortly with Scottish Venison and Scotland Food and Drink to consider the specific issue of public sector procurement of wild venison.

NatureScot only receives cull return data from the five local authorities that manage deer on their land. The remaining local authorities do not undertake deer culls, and therefore do not provide cull returns.

Naturescot has funded local authorities approximately £37,000 over the last seven years to produce deer management plans and deer statements alongside providing expert advice and guidance. NatureScot will continue to work with local authorities to support their deer management efforts.

The Scottish Government recognises the incredible contribution that Scotland’s unpaid carers, including our young carers, make to our communities as well as the pressures many carers are under.

The Young Carers Package, delivered by Young Scot, was put in place to provide additional benefits and opportunities for young carers. The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 defines a young carer as someone who provides (or intends to provide) care who is under 18 (or over 18 and still at school). The package is designed to support children and young people who are not eligible for social security benefits and other support available to young adults.

In recognition of the fact that transitioning from being a young carer to an adult carer can be difficult, as young people look towards work or further or higher education, the package includes a transition bundle to provide extra benefits before young carers turn 19. There is a Young Scot webpage with further information on the transition bundle and young carers transitions more generally at: www.young.scot/get-informed/young-carers-transitions

I would encourage anyone providing unpaid care to contact their social work department or local carer centre to find out what support they may be able to offer.