Chamber and committees

Does the bill not provide for the training of dogs for those very reasons?

Is there an analogy between that and what you said earlier about hares and rabbits, in which one thing can be done under the cover of another thing or can turn into something else? Did the public express concerns about such a situation in the consultation?

Again on rabbits, I would like an indication of why the bill is framed as it is with reference to rabbits and how you will ensure that unintended consequences are avoided. I am thinking of pest control and how we avoid leading people to think that they have other options, which are probably less palatable in welfare terms. I am curious to know why the bill is framed as it is around rabbits, with pest control in mind.

Actually, convener, I am interested in the issue of trail hunting. Do you want me to wait until later to ask about that, or shall I ask my question now?

I want to ask about rabbits, as they got a mention earlier, and about how the bill has been drafted to avoid any unintended consequences in that regard. The obvious example is where a dog slips its lead and chases after a rabbit. Is that captured by the bill? Does it deal with that scenario?

Why is trail hunting included in the bill’s scope?

I appreciate that you are not here to speak on the political or wider ethical issues, so I will concentrate on some of what has gone into the bill. Specifically, what are the Government’s aims in terms of the loopholes in the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 that it seeks to plug? I am not looking for a comprehensive list, but we are at the point at which this has to be explained to, and debated with, the public.

Thank you. I am thinking again about welfare concerns and the aims behind the legislation. You mentioned how the existing legislation relates or does not relate effectively to police officers and the judicial process. How will the new legislation make it more justiciable—if that is the right word—or more appropriate when it comes to how it is dealt with by the police?

In relation to those points, in seeking to address welfare concerns in that piece of legislation, is a distinction being drawn between mounted and other types of hunts, given that those are different activities, or are both being treated in the same way?

I will turn away from the relationship between the UK and the EU and towards how that fits into, if it does at all, relations between the UK and Scottish Governments. Can you offer any observations on that, particularly now that we might be entering a period in which there might be not only policy disagreements between the two Governments but different understandings of what is or should be devolved?