Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not have access to the National Gamebag Census (NGC) dataset held by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT). GWCT routinely publish only summary data, in the form of trend indices.

Following a request from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) in June 2017, estimates of the number of hares culled were provided by GWCT to SNH up to and including 2015 only. The NGC data for 2016 and 2017 (which are required to derive these estimates) were not available at the time.

The estimated values are:

2013: 29,634

2014: 37,681

2015: 26,952

These figures are derived using modelling and calibration of NGC game bag figures against a historic baseline, namely the figure of 24,529 for 2006-07 as published in SNH commissioned research report 278: The distribution of Mountain Hare (Lepus timidus) in Scotland (2006-07). There is no indication of effort (i.e. number of guns and days of shooting etc) and the population index values from which these estimates are derived are, themselves, subject to varying levels of statistical confidence.

A single payment of £358.80 was made by Scottish Natural Heritage to the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust in 2017 to analyse the National Gamebag Census dataset up to 2015, the most recent year available at the time. There was no payment for such work in 2016 and none to-date in 2018.

The independently-led group, chaired by Professor Werritty set up to examine how to ensure grouse moor management is sustainable and compliant with the law is also examining mountain hare management. The group will report back to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform in Spring 2019.

We are currently considering whether interim measures may be appropriate. Assessment of all the available data required to inform that consideration is underway.

The Scottish Government has no direct contracts in place with Kier Construction. The following table sets out the projects that the Scottish Government has contributed (or is contributing) funding towards, where Keir Construction has been the contractor. This table does not include projects procured by contracting authorities under their own programmes of work:

As the vessel owners, Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) undertake statutory upgrades to the CalMac fleet. Details on the levels of recent investment are detailed in the following table for years 2010 to 2018:-

Five of the sixteen recovered whooper swan carcases found dead in the Fairnington area in the Scottish Borders inDecember 2017 were identified as having died from lead poisoning as a result of ingesting lead of an unknown type and that they had not been shot.

The cause of death for the remaining eleven whooper swans was not identified although, as they were found in exactly the same set of circumstances, it is highly likely they suffered the same fate. However, this could not be confirmed during post mortem due to the advanced state of decomposition in most of the carcases.

It is not possible to say where and when the swans ingested the lead. It is understood the swans migrated from Iceland to the UK for the winter and the lead could have been ingested anywhere on that journey or before, during or after. There is no evidence to suggest the swans ingested the lead over a wetland area, although this remains a possibility. There is no wildfowling undertaken at the location where they were found.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any issues that make the regulation system for the use of lead ammunition in firearms not fit for purpose.

For any goose shooting under publicly funded schemes, non-lead shot is required to be used over wetlands as set out in The Environmental Protection (Restriction of Use on Lead Shot) (Scotland) (No.2) Regulations 2004.

For the Greylag Adaptive Management Pilots in Orkney, Tiree & Coll, Lewis & Harris and Uist, only non-lead shotgun ammunition was purchased by Scottish Natural Heritage.

For the Islay Adaptive Management Scheme, where lethal control is undertaken by a combination of farmers and employed marksmen, non-lead shot is used over wetlands and additional training is provided on the use of non-lead shot.

In addition, over non wetland areas, practitioners are strongly encouraged to move to using non-lead shot through awareness raising and training.

Given that the cause of deaths of the whooper swans in the Fairnington area of the Scottish Borders in December 2017 and January 2018 were inconclusive, there is no guarantee that any steps the Scottish Government takes would prevent a repeat scenario.

The Scottish Government has regular contact with its major animal welfare stakeholders. Scottish Government officials have discussed, and corresponded on, an increase to the penalties for animal cruelty offences with a number of animal welfare organisations, including the Scottish SPCA, and a number of representatives from Scottish local authorities. Officials last met representatives of the Scottish local authorities and SPCA on 3 May 2018 to discuss this topic.

The Scottish Parliament was informed, in response to S5W-16095 on 1 May 2018, the Scottish Government will introduce the legislation when the most suitable legislative vehicle has been identified and it will come into force on approval by the Scottish Parliament.

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 .