Seòmar agus comataidhean

Yes.

Consultation was done on a GB basis. From what I understand, NFU Scotland was the only Scottish stakeholder to take part in that consultation. It commented that the proposals made sense. However, I think that there had been other opinions within that consultation—from the British Egg Industry Council, I believe. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had held a round table.

I pass the question to officials, who can give more information about comments on the proposals.

Because we do not need the powers in the bill to give effect to that in Scotland. It is not that we are not going to do it; we have the powers to do it already, and SAWC is looking at the matter. It makes sense to look at its work on the issue before we take anything forward.

It will help in a number of ways. You gave the example of how a minibus might be full of animals, depending on the number of individuals who are in it. That would not be possible any more. There would be a maximum of five animals per vehicle, regardless of the number of individuals. That would have a significant impact.

We will also see changes when the regulations are implemented. One of the biggest and most positive changes will be the ability to introduce an age limit for movement. We might be able to prevent the import of dogs who are less than six months old. We think that that would significantly impact the trade, as would the proposals that are subject to future regulations and deal with moving heavily pregnant dogs. The combination of all those measures will, I hope, put a stop to that trade, although there are elements that we will have to keep a close eye on.

Thank you, convener. I am delighted to be before the committee to discuss the LCM, to give effect in Scotland to some of the clauses of the bill.

The bill will make provision for the welfare of certain kept animals that are in, imported into or exported from Great Britain. The Scottish Government proposes legislative consent for the clauses that are related to prohibiting the export of animals for slaughter and fattening, animal welfare and retained direct European Union legislation, and the importation of dogs, cats and ferrets. It also proposes consent on amendments to the licensing of zoos in Great Britain.

The provisions of the bill that do not extend to Scotland relate to the keeping, selling and breeding of primates and the offence of livestock worrying. The Scottish Government has the devolved power to legislate for the welfare of primates through secondary legislation, and the Scottish Parliament has already legislated to improve the protection of livestock in relation to incidents of worrying through its support of the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2021, which came into force on 5 November.

The Scottish Government recently committed to working with the other United Kingdom Administrations to seek to end the unnecessary long-distance transport of animals for fattening or slaughter outside the UK. The bill provides an opportunity to have consistent control over such exports and to assist enforcement agencies to ensure that such unnecessary movements no longer take place.

The bill makes provision for prohibiting or regulating the movement of animals into Scotland for the purpose of protecting animal welfare or animal health. Committee members will be all too aware that the importation of animals—puppies, in particular—involves widespread suffering and illegality. Puppies are frequently imported with fraudulent paperwork, underage and unvaccinated, before being transported and sold to unsuspecting buyers in Great Britain by dealers who illegally pose as home breeders. Reducing the number of pet animals that can be imported by individuals, along with restrictions on the import of young animals or those in late pregnancy, will significantly help to address those issues. The measures have been called for by many of the main animal welfare organisations, and the Scottish Government supports their introduction.

There are also concerns about the growing number of dogs that are being imported with cropped ears and other unnecessary and cruel mutilations that are not legal in the UK. The bill seeks to address those concerns.

The licensing of zoos has been applied consistently across Great Britain for many years, more recently under the provisions of the Zoo Licensing Act 1981. That consistent approach has worked well to protect animals that are kept in zoos, and I would like that approach to continue.

The proposed amendments to the 1981 act seek to introduce more meaningful conservation, education and research activities for all licensed zoos, through improved standards for modern zoo practice that have been developed by the Zoos Expert Committee. That will greatly improve the knowledge base in relation to many animals and contribute to their future care.

The Scottish Government fully recognises that for the measures in the bill to be successful, it must be introduced consistently across Great Britain to avoid unscrupulous importers and exporters seeking to change their point of entry or exit in an attempt to exploit any inconsistencies between Administrations, which they no doubt would seek to do, considering the high value of puppies and certain breeds of dog.

Consistent legislative measures across GB will also greatly assist when it comes to the interpretation and enforcement of new controls. A co-ordinated GB-wide approach to tackling the issues that are covered by the bill is widely supported and welcomed by many key stakeholders.

I am strongly of the view that allowing the UK Parliament to legislate for all GB Administrations in those areas is the most timely, efficient and effective way to achieve those important changes.

As I have said, movements are very infrequent and involve very small quantities that come directly into Scotland from the Republic of Ireland. I do not know whether officials have the exact numbers.

As I have said, we have proposed these amendments as a result of the engagement that we have had with animal welfare stakeholders in developing the detailed guidance for local authorities. We work closely with the likes of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. We have worked with it in developing training and a toolkit that can be used. We will, of course, monitor this closely. We are in regular engagement with the SSPCA, Cats Protection and other animal welfare charities and organisations, so, of course, through that regular engagement, we will pick up on any issues that there are. We also have the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, which deals with particular issues. I just want to assure members and the committee that we are in close contact with all our stakeholders in the hope that we can pick up any early issues that emerge through this process. The licensing regulations that we introduced and the amendments that we are proposing today have been welcomed by those stakeholders.

Good morning. I am happy to appear before the committee today to discuss this amending instrument, which makes some minor amendments to the 2021 licensing regulations, which were approved by the Scottish Parliament in February and came into force on 1 September. As the amendments that are proposed are not contentious and they are monitored both in terms of their impact and their scope, I will keep my opening remarks brief. The amendments that are being considered today amend the conditions that are applicable to two out of the six licence types that are available under the 2021 licensing regulations, namely animal rehoming licences and animal welfare establishment licences. Other types of licence are unaffected.

The change that is specific to animal rehoming activities is the removal of the prohibition on the supply of kittens—that is, cats under six months old—as pets if they are not bred by the licence holder. That change will permit persons who hold a licence to engage in animal rehoming activities, including foster carers working with animal welfare charities, to rehome kittens. The need for the change was brought to the attention of the Scottish Government during discussions with Cats Protection on the development of detailed guidance for local authorities. Given the significant issues with the unlicensed puppy trade, we do not propose to remove the corresponding prohibition on the supply of puppies, which applies to holders of a licence to engage in animal rehoming activities, as to do so would, no doubt, encourage those involved in that trade to attempt to use animal rehoming as a cover for their unlicensed breeding and dealing activities.

Stakeholders also brought to our attention during discussions on the development of guidance for local authorities that there would be merit in mirroring certain safeguards that are included in the conditions applicable to rehoming activities in those that apply to animal welfare establishments. Accordingly, these amending regulations will prohibit holders of a licence to operate an animal welfare establishment from supplying unweaned mammals, mammals weaned at an age at which they should not have been weaned, non-mammals that are incapable of feeding themselves and puppies, kittens, ferrets and rabbits aged under eight weeks. Although it is very unlikely that a holder of an animal welfare establishment licence would supply such an animal, we have agreed that the inclusion of the additional conditions is appropriate and merited, as it further safeguards the welfare of particularly vulnerable animals.

I hope that the committee will agree that, although the changes that we seek to make to the 2021 regulations are relatively minor in nature, they are important because they remove a restriction that has the potential to impact on the rehoming activities of Cats Protection, given its routine use of foster homes as part of its rehoming activities. It also brings forward some additional protections for particularly vulnerable animals under the care of those operating animal welfare establishments.

I will be happy to take any questions that the committee may have.

I thank the member for raising that concern, but I would say that we are proposing this amendment only because it came to light through discussions with Cats Protection as we were developing the guidance for local authorities. We did not have any objection to making this amendment to the regulations, but, of course, we want to monitor the situation to make sure that there are no adverse impacts. We are in regular engagement with animal welfare stakeholders and with other organisations, too, so we would be in close contact if any issues came to light. Certainly, from what we have proposed so far and from discussions with Cats Protection and other animal welfare stakeholders, this is an amendment that has been welcomed.

Obviously, a consultation was undertaken when we were introducing the licensing regulations, but some of the issues that we are looking to address today came to light only when we were developing the guidance for local authorities and working with our animal welfare stakeholders. We have been working closely with them through this process and in developing that guidance. That is why we are bringing the amending regulations forward today to address those issues. Although there was no formal consultation on the amending regulations, we are in close engagement all the time so that we can identify such issues and address them.