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I am glad to see that there has been some movement, because I think that the issue is terribly important. Vets are the very people who do not want disasters involving an owner and their puppy or dog, or an animal that is in poor condition.

Again, we return to something that is in the shadows of the bill: puppy farming and the importing of puppies that people buy online. People might have no idea about that. If they have a preliminary meeting with a vet, a conversation about that will open up. Although the bill does not deal directly with that aspect, sitting behind it is the current practice of people buying puppies out the back of cars, online and so on. That is the thrust of it, and I think that that makes vets the very people to be part of that information loop, if I can call it that.

That was not my question, minister. My question is: does my wording duplicate the wording in the existing code?

This is rather important.

I would like to, if I may, convener, with your leave.

Nobody is creating a criminal offence—that is patently obvious. If I might be quite frank, I think that the problem for the minister is that we are on pretty thin ice here. I am lifting language straight from the existing code of practice, which makes it plain that it

“does not have legislative effect”

but promotes

“examples of good practice.”

If I lift everything else and put it straight into my bill, I do not see the grounds for arguing that I am doing something punitive and something different from what is in an existing code of practice that the Government itself drafted.

Minister, I wonder if you could just let me finish my sentence—I love saying that to a minister.

Someone might be thinking of getting a certain breed of dog. Some breeds might have issues. For example, some dogs have squashed noses and others have been so overbred that they can hardly walk, poor devils. A vet can give advice on that, and even on whether someone’s life circumstances are such that they would be right for a particular breed. I have had many animals, and in my experience vets are excellent and will give good advice.

I like the proposal. I did not think of it myself, so I compliment Ariane Burgess on it. Minister, you should give it a bit of thought, if I might suggest that.

I have finished, but I will let the minister intervene, and then I will say a bit more. That way, it will be an intervention. [Laughter.]

What the minister says is absolutely correct. I confirmed to the committee at stage 1 that I was content to remove part 2 of the bill. It is pretty onerous and a bit clunky, and it could be financially onerous at this time.

That said, as the committee is aware, I am very interested in having a UK-based microchipping database. That would make more sense because, ancillary to that, we could put in it dog control notices and everything else that is relevant to dogs in Scotland. I have no concerns about the deletion of part 2—given that I agreed to it earlier, I could hardly change my mind now—on the basis that we will continue to look at microchipping. We will have a debate on that later, so I will save what I want to say for then.

Indeed. I know that it is hard for ministers, so I am going to be sympathetic here. They have heavy-duty portfolios, but if you do not set yourself a timescale, in tandem with the UK Government, the long grass will just get even longer. I am not saying that the minister can do this on his own; I know that he cannot. What he can do, in his discussions with the UK Government—after all, this is a good egg thing—is to say to the new UK minister, whoever they might be, “Let us get on with this, get our officials together and move towards establishing a UK dog microchipping database.” If people move their animals about the UK, that is probably the best that we could do.

In the meantime, Edward Mountain’s position represents a good first step. We should review what we have just now and see whether it is working and people update it—I am sure that they do not. As I said, I do not have a vote on the matter, but I am pleased that there is momentum behind the proposal for a microchipping database, which I have been pushing for for a long time.

Excuse me for finishing on a frivolous note, but I take it that where a single chicken is kept, as in Edward Mountain’s example, its name does not go into the database and it is simply given a number. However, if it has a name, I would love to hear it. Do not tell me that its name is Hen.

That is me concluded, convener.

Let me make progress, and I will answer the minister’s questions, too.

The minister says quite rightly—indeed, I moaned about this before to the previous Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee when it carried out post-legislative scrutiny of members’ bills—that a member’s bill gets the air of publicity when it is introduced and when it passes. Then it is left on the shelf. My view is that, in a democratic Parliament, all bills are equal once Parliament has passed them. Therefore, a member’s bill—not just mine, but any member’s bill that passes in the Parliament—should have the resources and the publicity that the Government would give to its own legislation on, say, minimum unit pricing, or to UK bills on not drinking and driving.

Obviously, the Government must consult the various charities and so on, but I would be looking at who our audience was and whom we would be targeting. We would be targeting people who click a button and see a nice wee puppy, rather like the one that I have on the picture I am holding up. He is a charming wee thing, and that is why I am against it. You never see any wrecks—you are never shown dogs that are not pretty. People see pretty dogs online. They spend longer buying a handbag; a man would spend longer buying a pair of trainers. They see the dogs and think, “Oh, that’s lovely.” The bill’s purpose is to make them reflect and ask where the puppy is from and why they are in the car park looking at one, thinking, “If I do not get that dog, it will perish.” The fact is that, if they buy it out of a crate, another puppy will come off the production line to be miserable and fill its place.

I am content to go with the Government on what should be in the bill on this issue, but my point about publicity—I have been banging on about this for ages—is that I expect appropriate publicity for all members’ bills, and that we should not just tell people about them when they are passed by Parliament or if something controversial happens. I know that there are police officers who do not know about the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010, which I brought through. I imagine that Emma Harper is aware of police officers who do not know about her member’s bill, because it was not a Government one. To me, all bills are of equal merit once Parliament passes them.

The situation is not the minister’s fault, but I have made the point to previous ministers. My message to the Government is that I want to see a change in the culture of publicising all members’ bills, and not just mine.

On the Government’s amendments, the code of practice and the associated certificate are not legally binding.

It will help the committee if I quote the existing code of practice for the welfare of dogs. The second paragraph of the preface says:

“Generally, there is a duty to comply with legislation. Although the Code does not have legislative effect, it is intended to promote and give examples of good practice.”

Here is the killer line:

“Failure to comply with a provision of this Code, whilst not an offence in itself, may be relied upon as tending to establish liability where a person has been accused of an offence under Part 2 of the Act.”

The next sentence says:

“Equally, compliance with a provision of the Code may be relied upon as tending to negate liability by a person in any proceedings for an offence under Part 2 of the Act.”

Without trying to be too boring, I note that section 6(2) of my bill says:

“In any proceedings for a relevant offence—

(a) failure to comply with a relevant provision of the code of practice may be relied on as tending to establish liability, and

(b) compliance with a relevant provision of the code of practice may be relied on as tending to negative liability.”

That is lifted straight from the previous code of practice, so I do not see the problem. All that my bill does is replicate the existing code of practice. The issue is evidential and has nothing to do with perception.

I thank Rachael Hamilton.

As the committee knows, at stage 1, I took the position that it was important to have a separate, stand-alone, simple code that related to the acquisition of a dog or a puppy. The difference between such a code and the existing code is that the existing code is for people who already have a dog. My proposed code represents a pre-emptive strike to make sure that people have taken account of all the welfare and accommodation issues in advance of proceeding to acquire a dog. Therefore, I do not support what Rachael Hamilton is proposing.

I have an ancillary comment. The existing code is 36 pages long, so it is pretty cumbersome. I say, with respect, that I do not think that many people will have read it. If they have read it, I think that they will have done so after they have got a dog. The code that I am looking to introduce will be on one side of A4 and will be written in simple language; it will not be complicated. I want people not to desist from reading it because it has too many pages, and to have a look at it in advance of getting a dog. Although it will be written in a similar style to the existing code, it will, I hope, be a very easy read, as it will use straightforward, conversational language. I know that that is not mentioned in my bill at the moment; we will come on to that later. I want my proposed code to be written in conversational language so that people can understand in simple terms what they will be taking on if they get a dog. That is in the best interests of the dog or puppy and, indeed, the potential owner.

Obviously, I reject Rachael Hamilton’s wrecking amendment, which would completely take my bill out of the picture.