Chamber and committees

I am sure that that would be very welcome. What struck me was how adamant the BPA was that its opposition to the Government’s plans is based not on the commercial interests of its members but on its direct experience of the fireworks industry in this country and overseas. That point was very pronounced, and it came through in the evidence, which is why I asked about it.

The sale, use and purchase of fireworks are the three prongs that the Government is using to introduce restrictions. I have two questions. First, are you cognisant of concerns that people will stockpile fireworks by purchasing them and then storing them in their homes or other locations outwith the prescribed periods for legally purchasing them? Secondly, are you confident that there will be no legal challenges to the rather arbitrary dates for the sale and use of fireworks that are prescribed by the bill?

That sounds like something that would have made a marvellous amendment, which we would have introduced anyway.

Is it the case that, under the proposals, the only way that someone who wanted to use fireworks to celebrate an occasion outwith the defined periods could do so would be through an organised display company or someone who is exempt from the regulations? If so, will that lead to a bizarre situation in which someone who can afford to celebrate with fireworks can do so but others will be restricted? Are we not just creating a class division in relation to fireworks? Does that seem fair and proportionate?

Good morning to our guests. I would like to dig a little deeper into the statistics. The committee is trying to grapple with the scale of the problem, and whether the proposed legislation both is fit for purpose and fills the gaps in a way that meets the policy intention and the premise behind it.

Some of the data that I have heard today is news to some of us, but it is also three years out of date. You said that it was from the 2019—what was the description that you used?

I am sorry if I did not take them down. However, I specifically asked for the statistics in the order that I did because that would give us an idea of the scale of the problem.

Oh, for sure.

Do you have the numbers now? This is our last evidence session, so that is why I am pushing you—I am sorry.

We are now in 2022, and we are creating new legislation.

I have some questions on relativities. How many offences occur each year? That can be an average or a total over 10 years—whatever you have available to you. How does that convert into prosecutions, and what are the outcomes of those prosecutions? Specifically, how many of those offences result in non-court outcomes, and how many of them proceed to court and are prosecuted? For those that proceed to prosecution, what sort of penalties are given?

We know what the existing legislation—the Explosives Act 1875, the Fireworks (Scotland) Regulations 2004 and so on—is and does, and we know what the maximum penalties are. I am keen to understand whether those maximum penalties are being utilised as things stand under the existing legislation before we start introducing new legislation.

What is the scale of the problem? That is what I am trying to get to. How many offences are reported to the police or local authorities per year? How many of them convert into some form of judicial action, whether that is prosecution, being taken to court or being settled out of court? What are the outcomes of those prosecutions, using the existing maximum penalties that are available? Are those penalties being used to their full extent?

Thank you, convener.

There will be people watching this session, especially those who have given evidence already, who will accept that you are making some sensible points, and making them well, but they will also say that, as industry representatives, of course you do not want us to go down the road of having any further restrictions. What would you say to those people? What part of your professional judgment that you are passing on today is not protectionist and is more about specifically what the bill is trying to do and the way in which it is going about it? I ask that because we are going to have to address that issue. The feedback will be, “You heard from the fireworks industry, and of course it is against the proposals.” That was the case with the working group, whose report you dissented from.