Chamber and committees

The committee has dealt with numerous transitional SSIs on import restrictions. Am I correct in thinking that that is all part of the Windsor framework—the new deal that was agreed at the end of last year—and that no new instruments should come in, because the regulations replace the interim measures?

Finally, is the committee content to delegate to me authority to sign off our report on the instrument?

Members indicated agreement.

Our third item of business is consideration of petition PE1758, which calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to end greyhound racing in Scotland.

Before we proceed, I make members and all those with an interest in the petition aware that the evidence session that was scheduled for next week with the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity has been rescheduled for 22 May at the minister’s request.

I welcome Daniel Alcorn and George Stark, who will give evidence as greyhound owners and trainers who are registered with the Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Thank you for joining us, gentlemen. The committee has a number of questions for you. As usual, I will kick off. Will you talk us through the scale and the nature of your involvement in greyhound racing? For example, how many dogs do you have, where do you train and kennel your dogs, and where and how often do you race them?

On your business, do you train and kennel dogs for other people, or do you own all the dogs yourself?

Is that how things normally work? Daniel, you have your own dogs, which you told us about, but do other people come to you and ask you to kennel their dogs and train and race them on their behalf?

Do you think that there is any demand, need or support for another GBGB track in Scotland? Can you see that ever happening in the future?

Okay. Will you give us an idea of what your kennels are like? It is quite difficult to think how you keep 40 dogs. Can you explain to us how the kennels are set out physically and what sort of regulations you need to abide by to be able to race on GBGB tracks?

When you go and race, how many dogs do you normally take, and how do you transport them?

What is SCI?

You said that you go above and beyond the GBGB’s requirements on animal welfare. The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission has suggested that Scotland should have a scheme that would be independent of the GBGB, and the Scottish Government has recently consulted on licensing. What are your views on having such an additional licensing scheme in Scotland, for tracks and, in your cases, for kennels?