Chamber and committees

You touched on the issue of loopholes, and I am aware of where you think the dangers might lie. How did you weigh up the concern that was expressed on animal welfare grounds about the dangers of such loopholes? You already mentioned your concern about how some groups might adapt their behaviour to get around the aims of the bill. Could you say a little bit more about that? Could you also say whether you are still satisfied that the arrangements that are set out in the bill that allow for multiple dogs, although not in a pack—and the interpretation of those provisions—are adequate to meet the animal welfare concerns of the bill?

One of the issues that has been raised in the past has been the definition of a pack and how a pack might be identified. Are you still content with the working definition that you have of what constitutes a pack?

Thank you.

To be honest, some of the questions that I was going to ask have been covered, but let me ask Sheila Voas to say something briefly about the effectiveness of different prevention measures. I am not asking you to set out a scale of effectiveness. However, you mentioned culls and other options. What are the other options, apart from housing?

Does the pattern of distribution in Scotland lend itself to making things harder or easier to control?

In that case, would you say that nothing needs to be added to the bill to make the matter clearer in your view?

Thank you.

Julie Hesketh-Laird said that the situation around the reserved EU law was strange—I think that that was her word, and I can assure you that many of us here find the idea of 4,000 or so laws pretty mystifying as well. The area that I want to open up is more how those laws might be replaced. We have already looked at how cumbersome a process that might be, but one of the issues that this committee has been considering is the idea that UK ministers would have the power in many areas to amend laws in devolved areas. The NFUS has raised issues around the restrictions that the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 202 would place on Scotland’s agency to act. Can we open up a discussion on what people feel about what the possibility that it would be UK ministers who would potentially be amending laws in devolved areas implies for parliamentary oversight and the involvement of interested parties?

I am the MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar.

The Government has offered some clarification on the proposal to permit two dogs per person on a shoot. I am curious to know what your view is of those clarifications.

In addition, as we have discussed, one of the alternatives to that is to have two dogs per shoot as a whole. Although the witnesses have mentioned this, I would be interested to know what the implications of that would be for a rough shoot. Would it be possible to have a shoot with a limit of two dogs for the shoot as a whole? Would that restrict what you do on wildlife control or would it merely restrict the shoot as a social event?