Chamber and committees

We will move on from talking about licensing shortly. We touched on the financial capacity in NatureScot. I understand that the estimate of the cost to NatureScot is £118,000. Does that involve any cost recovery from those applying for licences, and has any consideration been given to charging for licences? Will £118,000 be the total cost?

I beg your pardon, Hugh.

NatureScot will be expected to determine the number of dogs that are covered by each licence. How will it go about doing that? Will there be a licence for up to 10 dogs or a licence for up to 40 dogs? What is your understanding of the process that NatureScot will have to go through to determine the number of dogs that are covered by a licence?

I understand that. However, if someone goes out on a rough or mixed shoot—which is not necessarily about controlling wild mammals; it includes pheasants and game, but rabbits may be flushed—that would be illegal under the bill.

It is not necessarily about “control”. People do not go out to shoot pheasants in order to control pheasants, but as a consequence—

We will move on. That will probably come up in later questions.

It might take an additional 15 minutes.

Thank you. I really appreciate that.

On the back of Jenni Minto’s question, are you open to suggestions about having a different method or a different number of days? Fourteen days is very prescriptive; weather conditions, for example, could play a part in whether the pest control that takes place during those 14 days is effective. It has been suggested in some places that there could be an annual licence to allow dogs to be used for pest control purposes for X number of days. Are you open to the suggestion of having a flexible licence that is not for a specific 14-day period but for X number of days over a calendar year?

Would that be done using secondary legislation?

Perhaps Hazel Reilly could make clear exactly what powers the bill would give the Scottish Government to charge for licences.