Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has met with Judy Murray and her representatives on two separate occasions during the past eighteen months where they discussed the plans for their proposed development, including their funding strategy.

The first meeting took place on 14 September 2018 at the Scottish Government’s Atlantic Quay offices in Glasgow and the follow-up meeting on 18 January 2019 at the Scottish Government’s Victoria Quay offices in Edinburgh.

Tennis Scotland, sport scotland and the Lawn Tennis Association are working together to deliver The Transforming Scottish Indoor Tennis (TSIT) Fund which will see a significant investment into Scottish tennis facilities over the course of the next 10 years, with £15m committed by this partnership, for the development regionally based indoor tennis centres in Scotland.

We understand that the application process prioritises projects which propose a minimum of 3 indoor courts and will initially focus on geographical areas where there is a gap in provision informed by Tennis Scotland’s assessment through developing its national facilities strategy. These areas include:

• Dumfries + Galloway
• Dundee
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow
• Highland
• Scottish Borders

In addition to these priority areas, there are further geographic gaps, which sport scotland would welcome applications from. These gaps have been informed by modelling work undertaken by them, based on a reasonable travel distance to the majority of the population, albeit there may not currently be a well-established tennis demand in these areas. These areas identified within the TSIT Fund are:

• Aberdeen
• Aberdeenshire
• Fife
• Moray
• North Lanarkshire
• Inverclyde

Animal sentience has been implicitly recognised in Scottish legislation for over a century, most recently in the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 which ensures the welfare of all vertebrate animals kept by man. This recognition included wild animals in the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill passed by the Scottish Parliament on 21 March 2018.

The Scottish Government is aware of the Animal Welfare (Sentencing and the Recognition of Sentience) Bill in the UK Parliament intended to require Ministers of the Crown to have regard to the welfare needs of animals as sentient beings when formulating and implementing Government policy. The Scottish Government is considering the extension of the duty to have regard to the welfare needs of all sentient animals when formulating and implementing policy to Scottish Ministers as regards matters devolved to the Scottish Government.

Rodenticide active substances are authorised for use in the European Union under the Biocides Regulation 528/2012 (EU BPR). Pest control products that contain these substances require to be used in accordance with their authorisation conditions. Whilst the use of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides is necessary to protect public health, Scottish Government recognises the risks associated with their use and supports the ‘Think Wildlife – Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use’.

Scottish Government also supports the principles that guide the UK Rodenticide Stewardship Scheme, which aims to reduce these risks and promote good practice, and in particular the intention to reduce exposure to non-target wildlife. Scottish Government officials are members of the stewardship scheme’s government oversight group and are content with its development and implementation at present.

However, we recognise that the regime is in its infancy and its performance will be fully evaluated after five years of operation. In addition to our involvement in UK stewardship, the Scottish Government conducts other monitoring activities to consider the impact of rodenticides on Scottish wildlife.

The Scottish Government has not held any discussions with the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) in regard to the deaths of four horses at Musselburgh Racecourse at a meeting on 3 December 2018.

The BHA ensures racehorse welfare in Scotland, including compliance with all aspects of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) 2006 Act, through its Rules of Racing, the licensing and inspection of participants, education, training and monitoring.

The Scottish Government is aware that the BHA is carrying out a full investigation of the incident at Musselburgh and will consider the findings of the BHA investigation when they are published.

In the 2018-19 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government committed to continue work to introduce and reform licensing of animal activities including animal sanctuaries, rehoming centres, breeding and the use of animals in public display or performance. There is no specific mention of horse racing or greyhound racing in the Programme for Government, however the scope of reforms to licensing of animal activities, including their use in public displays or performances, will be considered in due course after discussion with stakeholders.

There is currently no monitoring of beaver control in place.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on how many beavers were killed during 2018 and 2019 as land managers were not obliged to record this information.

A Scottish Statutory Instrument, granting beavers European Protected Species status, was laid before the Scottish Parliament on Friday 22 February 2019. The legislation will come into force on 1 May 2019.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-21764 on 5 March 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The Scottish Government is not seeking to prevent all lethal control of beavers in the period until European Protected Species status applies. The Scottish Government does however urge land managers and other to take note of SNH advice on the prevention and mitigation of adverse beaver impacts in this period, including taking note of the advice that killing of beavers should be a last resort.