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Section 12A
Amendment 47 in the name of Ross Greer MSP adds new section 12A to the Bill, modifying section 20 of the 2005 Act to state that the SFC, in exercising its functions, must have regard to "the economic, social and environmental priorities of the Scottish Ministers”.
Summary
The Dog Theft (Scotland) Bill (“the Bill”) was introduced by the Member, Maurice Golden MSP, as he believed a stand-alone offence of dog theft was required to address the low level of prosecutions and to enable the emotional impact of dog theft on owners to be fully taken into account.
Section 1 creates a new stand-alone offence of dog theft.
Committee reports
Date published:
12 November 2025
The lead committee is the Finance and Public Administration Committee.
The Bill makes provision for a new devolved tax, the Scottish Building Safety Levy (“the Levy”).
The Explanatory Notes explain that one effect of the rule on remedies (section 23(1)(iii)) is that, in line with existing Scots law rules on remedies, the new remedy of return of benefits after rescission can be combined with other existing remedies so long as their exercise together is compatible with one another (see para 69).
Widening who can report a breach
Two new groups are added to the list of people who may report a suspected breach to the Crofting Commission:
Subtenants or short leaseholders of a croft in the same township;
Landlords or owners of the croft.
2.
Committee reports
Date published:
30 September 2025
The Scottish Government announced in 2022 that no new planning permissions for incineration facilities should be granted, however, plants already with planning permission could still be built.
Part 1 of the Bill also introduced new criminal court procedures, for example permitting pictures of physical evidence to be treated in the same way as the original physical evidence.
The Committee is required by Rule 9.7.9(b) of the Standing Orders to consider and report to the Parliament on new or substantially altered delegated powers after Stage 2.
During the evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary, the Committee noted that there had been discussions with bodies that represented a limited group of interests in respect of some parts of the Bill and that further discussions were to be conducted in relation to many new policy areas being introduced by the Bill.