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Forestry and Land Scotland do not keep central records of the volume of deer fencing erected by year. The data held relates to annual expenditure on deer fencing on Scotland's national forests and land.

Scottish Government considers there to be sufficient abattoir capacity in Scotland for farmed venison and flexibility to increase that capacity if required. For wild venison, £80,000 has been made available through the Covid Recovery Opportunities Fund to create new local chill and processing units. These will be demonstration projects and will support delivery of the Scottish Venison Strategy action to invest in area-based facilities to maintain wild carcass quality and build supply of local product. Contracts have recently been offered and details of the projects will be announced in due course.

Over each of the last five years FLS has spent the following on deer culling contracts on Scotland's national forests and land:

Scottish Government, and its agency Scottish Forestry (SF), has established a Trees on Farms sub group in support of its Customer Representatives Group, with the aim of working collaboratively across the farming / landowner and forestry sector to develop improved understanding and awareness of the benefits of planting more woodlands on farms and to promote opportunities for more mixed woodland through enhanced grant rates.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

There are no plans to review the Access Code. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 is clear that conduct excluded from access rights includes being on or crossing land while responsible for a dog which is not under proper control. The Access Code sets a balance between the rights of those taking access and those of land managers. It states that when in a field of farm animals, people should keep their dog on a short lead or under close control and keep as far as possible from the animals. Dogs should not be taken into fields where there are lambs, calves or other young animals.

The Scottish Government considers that this advice accords with the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2021 which strengthened the law around livestock worrying by increasing the maximum penalties for offences. The small minority who do not treat livestock with respect and care must be held accountable and consequences must appropriately reflect the severity of their crime.

The Scottish Government, in November 2021, issued a joint protocol for the examination of dogs suspected of livestock worrying and seized by Police Scotland under the 2021 Act. That offers guidance to veterinarians who may be asked to examine such dogs.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to introduce new council tax rebates based on energy efficiency ratings for properties. Individual local authorities are required by section 80A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 to establish their own energy efficiency council tax discount schemes. Advice and support on improving home energy efficiency is available through Home Energy Scotland, administered by Energy Saving Trust on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Local professional and recreational deer stalkers currently make a contribution to meeting Forestry and Land Scotland's cull targets, where this is appropriate to meet the land management objectives set by Forestry and Land Scotland. This is achieved through open and transparent tendering of opportunities. There are currently no plans to change this.

The Skills Action Plan for Rural Scotland (SAPRS) is a joint initiative supported by Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Government, Plan stakeholders and partners.

An evaluation of the SAPRS is currently underway; it will be published in Summer 2022.

This will help inform what future action is needed to drive forward coordination and delivery of skills for rural Scotland and as such we are keen not to pre-empt the outcome of the evaluation.

Scotland already has “Beyond the Glen – a strategy for the Scottish Venison Sector to 2030”. This industry-led strategy commits to a range of actions including development of the supply chain and marketing.

Scottish Government provides support to the sector in various ways including funding of £50,000 in March 2021 towards a venison promotional campaign.