Chamber and committees

As I have said, we have proposed these amendments as a result of the engagement that we have had with animal welfare stakeholders in developing the detailed guidance for local authorities. We work closely with the likes of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. We have worked with it in developing training and a toolkit that can be used. We will, of course, monitor this closely. We are in regular engagement with the SSPCA, Cats Protection and other animal welfare charities and organisations, so, of course, through that regular engagement, we will pick up on any issues that there are. We also have the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, which deals with particular issues. I just want to assure members and the committee that we are in close contact with all our stakeholders in the hope that we can pick up any early issues that emerge through this process. The licensing regulations that we introduced and the amendments that we are proposing today have been welcomed by those stakeholders.

Good morning. I am happy to appear before the committee today to discuss this amending instrument, which makes some minor amendments to the 2021 licensing regulations, which were approved by the Scottish Parliament in February and came into force on 1 September. As the amendments that are proposed are not contentious and they are monitored both in terms of their impact and their scope, I will keep my opening remarks brief. The amendments that are being considered today amend the conditions that are applicable to two out of the six licence types that are available under the 2021 licensing regulations, namely animal rehoming licences and animal welfare establishment licences. Other types of licence are unaffected.

The change that is specific to animal rehoming activities is the removal of the prohibition on the supply of kittens—that is, cats under six months old—as pets if they are not bred by the licence holder. That change will permit persons who hold a licence to engage in animal rehoming activities, including foster carers working with animal welfare charities, to rehome kittens. The need for the change was brought to the attention of the Scottish Government during discussions with Cats Protection on the development of detailed guidance for local authorities. Given the significant issues with the unlicensed puppy trade, we do not propose to remove the corresponding prohibition on the supply of puppies, which applies to holders of a licence to engage in animal rehoming activities, as to do so would, no doubt, encourage those involved in that trade to attempt to use animal rehoming as a cover for their unlicensed breeding and dealing activities.

Stakeholders also brought to our attention during discussions on the development of guidance for local authorities that there would be merit in mirroring certain safeguards that are included in the conditions applicable to rehoming activities in those that apply to animal welfare establishments. Accordingly, these amending regulations will prohibit holders of a licence to operate an animal welfare establishment from supplying unweaned mammals, mammals weaned at an age at which they should not have been weaned, non-mammals that are incapable of feeding themselves and puppies, kittens, ferrets and rabbits aged under eight weeks. Although it is very unlikely that a holder of an animal welfare establishment licence would supply such an animal, we have agreed that the inclusion of the additional conditions is appropriate and merited, as it further safeguards the welfare of particularly vulnerable animals.

I hope that the committee will agree that, although the changes that we seek to make to the 2021 regulations are relatively minor in nature, they are important because they remove a restriction that has the potential to impact on the rehoming activities of Cats Protection, given its routine use of foster homes as part of its rehoming activities. It also brings forward some additional protections for particularly vulnerable animals under the care of those operating animal welfare establishments.

I will be happy to take any questions that the committee may have.

I thank the member for raising that concern, but I would say that we are proposing this amendment only because it came to light through discussions with Cats Protection as we were developing the guidance for local authorities. We did not have any objection to making this amendment to the regulations, but, of course, we want to monitor the situation to make sure that there are no adverse impacts. We are in regular engagement with animal welfare stakeholders and with other organisations, too, so we would be in close contact if any issues came to light. Certainly, from what we have proposed so far and from discussions with Cats Protection and other animal welfare stakeholders, this is an amendment that has been welcomed.

On your first point about the 3-mile limit, we have not agreed to nor adopted such a policy because we do not agree with taking a blanket approach, given how different and variable the coastline of Scotland is. A tailored approach is seen to be a lot more effective and beneficial.

The work that we have done through the future fisheries management strategy, with the regional inshore fisheries groups, looking at where local management can work, has been vital in helping to inform how we move forward and how we handle some of the issues that you outlined. So far, we have taken an approach of engagement and consultation, looking at the different environments surrounding coastal communities in Scotland. That approach makes sense, and we fully intend to continue with it.

It is not solely an islands affair, but ferries fall within the remit of the transport minister, so, if the committee was looking to do any specific pieces of work on that, he would be best placed to respond to that.

I am really sorry but I missed the first part of your question about the task force and what you were asking for.

As I mentioned, I was previously a minister who worked between two cabinet secretaries. In that situation, you do not work in isolation, especially when the issues concern various aspects across wider portfolios, so there will be close working on that. We also have a responsibility to ensure that, as we develop proposals for legislation, we engage with all the stakeholders and people who will be affected by it. I did that in my previous role and I do it now. It is critical for any legislation that there is open consultation so that we get the necessary feedback on the proposals to help us to shape the legislation and frame it in the best possible way.

That work will be undertaken in the process of developing the legislation that the member refers to. There is always a lead minister or cabinet secretary to take forward various bits of legislation, depending on where it falls in the portfolio. As I mentioned, that piece of legislation falls within the portfolio of the Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform, who will take the lead on that.

The food and drink recovery plan has been funded with £5 million in 2020-21 and another £5 million in 2021-22. There are 50 actions in the plan. I would be happy to write to the committee to provide more information about those actions and some of the work that has been done.

The regional food fund, which I launched in Shetland in the summer, is one project that has been delivered through the plan. The fund, which seeks to showcase and develop new markets for our food and drink, received a positive welcome. We have the best produce anywhere in the world, and it is important to highlight and showcase that and to do what we can to develop markets, especially in the light of some of the challenges that we have faced recently. We have also provided £1.8 million to Seafood Scotland and, last month, we announced a food processing, marketing and co-operation grant of £7.3 million. All of that is intended to keep our food and drink businesses resilient and to help them with some of the issues that they face.

You asked about sustainably Scottish. We produce sustainably. Scotland has a lot to show off about when it comes to our food and drink, and a sustainably Scottish brand would capitalise on that. We are in the early stages of that work. We will be working closely with Scotland Food & Drink to help to develop proposals for that and to see how we can drive it forward. It is important that we highlight Scottish produce and capitalise on the fact that it is sustainably produced.

We will be working with Scotland Food & Drink and other organisations to capture all of that and tie everything together.

Yes, the approach will be different from what is being pursued across the rest of the UK, particularly in England, where direct payments will be phased out and removed, and more of an outcomes-based approach will be looked at. We could start to see issues in the light of what is happening in relation to the internal market act, subsidy control and what is being brought in to replace state aid. That is a big concern for us. We are not 100 per cent clear yet about how that will impact on our ability to take a different policy course from what is being pursued elsewhere.

We specifically asked for agriculture not to be included in subsidy control. The results of the consultation in relation to that were shared with us. That could well constrain us, and we are not yet 100 per cent clear about what the full impacts of that would be.

In the meantime, it is important for us to set our own agriculture policy for Scotland. We have a land type that is very different from that of the rest of the UK, which is why it is important that we have the ability to set our own policy and a framework for payments that works for farmers and land managers in Scotland.