Chamber and committees

As we discussed last week, and previously during the taking of evidence, loopholes in the 2002 act were uncovered after the fact. I am concerned about allowing any space for any interpretation in any situation. People were very creative in interpreting the 2002 act, and I want to ensure that there are no loopholes in the bill. I believe that amendment 244 would potentially create a loophole.

I support Colin Smyth’s amendments 114, 120, 125 and 128, which would remove the use of a bird of prey as an accepted method of killing a wild mammal under sections 3 and 5 to 7. The committee heard evidence from, for example, the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission and OneKind that killing a wild mammal with a bird of prey is neither humane nor efficient. There is no justification for its being a permitted method of killing under sections 3 and 5 to 7 when other more humane and effective methods are available.

I understand that the Government does not wish to ban falconry by the back door, but amendments 114, 120, 125 and 128 would not do that. They would simply remove the option to use a bird of prey to kill a wild mammal for wildlife control, environmental benefit or other purposes.

I urge members to vote for Colin Smyth’s amendments.

Okay. Thank you.

You said that we are not starting with a blank sheet and that there is huge suspicion. If there is suspicion, we need to build trust. Would the three things that you outlined—core funding, removal of ring fencing and joint setting of priorities—help to ease the suspicion and help us to move towards trust?

I agree with that. When I talk to people where I live, I find that most people seem not to understand what their local authority is giving them, and they tend to move to conversations about the national Government. We need to do some work to gain respect and understanding of what is delivered at the local level, in the minds of people in Scotland.

I have another question; I will stick with the new deal. The recent update from the Scottish Government to the committee spoke about agreeing a new deal in advance of the coming financial year. Is that a realistic timescale? What needs to be agreed before a deal is struck? That timescale feels tight.

Councillor Ross said that we have been doing this for the past 10 years. The local governance review has been going on since 2017, so maybe the conversation has been happening. As you said, we have the pieces and elements of the conversation, so it could be that things could move quite quickly if we could build trust and have the dialogue that you are talking about.

Does anybody else want to come in on Annie Wells’s question?

Thank you for that. I am keen to move on. I will bring in Mark Griffin, who is joining us online, who will start the conversation about funding and the fiscal framework.

Does anyone else want to come in on that?

I believe that Mark Griffin has some more questions.