Chamber and committees

That just goes to show how effective it was.

It is a reasonable question, but I do not have that information in front of me.

Again, that is really a question for Ms Grahame, as she has come up with those figures. However, we have looked at them and they seem to be in line with figures for other campaigns of that sort. I imagine that the estimated cost—I cannot remember whether it is £200,000 or £250,000—takes into account the cost of the staffing associated with such a campaign and the materials involved. Given that those materials will probably be digital, we are talking mainly about staffing and creative costs.

That is why I am very supportive of part 1 of the bill, because it is about education.

That is why I am supportive of the general principles of your bill. What is absolutely required is enhanced advice that could be given to people well ahead of having a puppy or a dog in their homes.

I believe that tweaks are required to that part of the bill that would give real flexibility in the code of practice for unforeseen developments in that area and I am not entirely sure why Ms Grahame would not want that.

I probably have a copy of that in all the briefings that I have gone through in the past couple of days, Ms Grahame. Am I going to be tested on it?

That could be your recommendation, convener. The committee will have to discuss how it views Ms Grahame’s bill and put all those questions to her when she comes before you. You will be reporting on the bill, and we will have a debate, at stage 1, and that could be the committee’s view.

My understanding is that the updating and everything else to do with the register would fall to the local authority. I have in front of me the estimated costs. The cost of setting up the register is estimated to be about £20,000—I presume that that is for every local authority to set up a database—and the maintenance of that is estimated to cost about £16,000 a year. I see that as only part of the costs—there would also be the cost of enforcement in relation to people registering.

There is another issue to consider. I worry that being on a register would almost act as a false kite mark for the puppies and the breeder. It does not have much in the way of responsibilities associated with it. It does not come with any of the conditions that licensed breeders have to meet, around inspection and other animal welfare concerns.

Going back to our concerns about the individuals and organisations that are involved in puppy trafficking, I worry that, if there is a public register, families with a dog might be targeted by those people as a front for their operations. We have already seen that sort of thing before with puppies being brought in from outwith Scotland or the UK; there have been cases of people renting, say, Airbnbs and finding a bitch there that is not, in fact, the mother of those puppies. People come to what they think is a family home, when it is not.

Potentially—this is just a niggle that I have—such a register could act almost as a kite mark type of front that would add legitimacy to something that was otherwise not legitimate. That is just a little worry that I have about this.

You might have to wait a couple of weeks.