Seòmar agus comataidhean

I want to ask about labour, too. Was there any pre-empting sense that visas were going to be an issue and was any help or support offered in that respect? Is there any support at the moment?

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the reported on-going political instability within the United Kingdom Government impacts on the timing of its plans to ask the constitutional question of whether Scotland should be an independent country. (S6O-01444)

With Liz Truss having become Prime Minister with the backing of just 80,000 voters and now Rishi Sunak’s taking up of the post being co-ordinated by a cluster of Tory MPs, the Conservative Party’s democratic mandate is becoming more and more diluted. Does the cabinet secretary agree that the Tories have no leg to stand on when they question the Scottish Government’s cast-iron mandate to hold an independence referendum next year?

We also want to have a preventative system, not just one that mitigates what might happen to women. A preventative system would mean that, as young women and girls came through school, they would have opportunities and options and would be aware of those choices. Do you think that there is an opportunity to invest in that?

Good morning. It has been fascinating to hear how the process could and should work.

I have a question for Sara Cowan. I am interested in how the budget scrutiny process works for women in particular and what outcomes you are looking for. It is still the case that it is mostly women who have the burden of care placed on them. A woman might stay at home raising children for most of her life and not gain entitlement to a state pension. What could we do to help in such situations? Are those the types of inequalities that we are looking at? If we are looking to have a health and wellbeing economy in Scotland, what would such an economy look like, not just from a human rights-based perspective but specifically for women?

Thank you.

Absolutely. Your comment about women’s voices coming across as white noise to a lot of people a lot of the time really resonates, and we need to find out how we can home in on and listen to them.

Interestingly, the feedback that we had earlier was that this reaches further than our fiscal policy. We have already talked about the labour shortage, but I think that another issue is the nature of the job. After all, women are more likely to do this work, because it provides more flexibility alongside the care that they will be giving in their own lives. Perhaps this is all about looking at different sorts of career progression and so on.

It is quite a vast issue, is it not?

I do not think that I or anybody needs to hear evidence on whether hunting and killing rabbits without an actual need would be harmful in any way. If the member wants to narrow down his question a bit and say specifically what he means, I will be happy to give way again.

I think that we heard plenty of evidence from a lot of stakeholders, but the main premise of the bill is to tighten up legislation and ensure that we have the highest animal welfare standards in Scotland. I do not believe—and others agree with me—that chasing down a wild rabbit with dogs fits with those high standards in Scotland.

The bill is part of a wider package that addresses the issues. The stakeholder and public consultation on the definition of “wild mammal” highlighted that those who are suspected of undertaking hare coursing, which is an illegal activity under the 2002 act, frequently use the cover that they are legally using dogs to hunt rabbits. As always, the committee has scrutinised the bill and deliberated, but it is key to enforcement that we build a greater level of public awareness of poaching and coursing as serious wildlife crimes. We must continue to build working relationships and communications and to share information between all agencies and organisations.

As a committee, we have also recognised that a degree of flexibility is required to meet individual contexts and circumstances. I doubt that I am alone in recalling the submission to us from Lord Bonomy that the two-dog limit could affect predator control,

“particularly on rough and hilly ground and in extensive areas of dense cover such as conifer woodlands.”

One size does not fit all, and the addition of a licensing scheme to enable the use of more than two dogs in certain circumstances is a viable approach, as the bill acknowledges.

Following this debate, there will rightly be a series of stakeholder engagement meetings, which will follow the shared wildlife management principles, to provide an open platform for stakeholders to discuss the subject and provide expertise on the development of such licensing schemes.

There has been a profound amount of work on the bill at committee level, but the time that I have to speak to it is, of course, limited.

Having packs of dogs kill and chase animals such as foxes has no place in modern Scotland. The practice has been illegal for 20 years, but a number of loopholes need to be addressed to end it once and for all, and the bill facilitates that.