Chamber and committees

We are not aware of any specific welfare problems associated with greyhound racing in Scotland and have no reason to believe that the self-regulation of the greyhound racing industry is less than satisfactory.

In Scotland, all dogs, including greyhounds, used in racing are fully protected under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006. Section 24 of the Act requires those responsible for animals to take appropriate steps to ensure that the needs of these animals are met. These needs include the provision of a suitable environment and to be protected from suffering, injury or disease. The provisions of this Act apply when greyhounds are racing, at the racetrack, during transport to and from the racetrack and when the greyhounds are in their home environment.

The Scottish Government have now received the comments from the wider PAW Scotland partnership on the legislation, regulation and guidance on the use of snares in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-26152 on 14 August 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The recommendations from the PAW legislation, regulation and guidance sub group on the use of snares will be published on the Scottish Government website shortly.

There is no Scottish Government funding stream available that provides directly for such repair and maintenance, with the exception of the grant given annually by Historic Scotland to the War Memorials Trust to assist in the care of memorials to Scotland''s war dead, famous or not.

However, there are several avenues open to those who wish to see particular graves better cared for, and I have asked Historic Scotland to write directly to Ms Murray setting these options out in more detail.

A list of all organisations consulted was published with the draft code and can be accessed on the Scottish Government web site as follows:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/02/06141322/2.

Where an operator has failed to achieve a satisfactory assessment under the Scottish Environment Protection Agency''s (SEPA''s) Operator Performance Assessment (OPA) scheme, SEPA works with businesses wherever possible to achieve satisfactory compliance with permit conditions. SEPA has a range of options and approaches designed to improve an operator''s performance. They are contained in SEPA''s Enforcement Policy (available on SEPA''s website at http://www.sepa.org.uk/about_us/policies.aspx). These options range from preliminary discussions and information about good practice, to formal letters, enforcement notices which require the permit holder to comply with set conditions, suspension or revocation of permits, to a report to the Procurator Fiscal.

Unsatisfactory performance under the Scottish Environment Protection Agency''s (SEPA''s) Operator Performance Assessment (OPA) scheme does not in itself constitute a criminal offence. During the last five years, SEPA has reported a total of 284 cases to the Procurator Fiscal for breaches of permit conditions under a range of environmental regimes. Eleven of these cases involved permit holders who had received an unsatisfactory assessment under the OPA scheme.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency''s (SEPA''s) Compliance Assessment Scheme (CAS) improves on the Operator Performance Assessment (OPA) scheme in a number of ways. While OPA only applies to a limited number of industrial sites, CAS will cover all regulatory regimes for which SEPA is responsible. CAS is based on continual assessment of a permit holder''s performance, rather than the single snapshot approach under OPA. CAS is also designed to assess the operation of facilities more precisely by looking at both environmental performance and environmental management. In addition, CAS will enable SEPA to link the level of fees paid by an operator directly to performance, rewarding good performance and penalising poor performance.

The Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document does not intend to suggest that a person found guilty of using badger tongs to kill or take a badger could have done so unknowingly. The consultation document proposes a new offence of knowingly causing or permitting another person to use badger tongs to kill or take a badger.