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Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill - Financial Memorandum

Overview

The Bill is in two main parts. Part 1 deals with wildlife management. It introduces four changes to the law:

• it makes it an offence to use or buy a glue trap that could be used to catch an animal other than an invertebrate
• it introduces a licensing scheme for the use of specific traps to catch wild birds and animals, which will require people to complete an approved training course
• it introduces a licensing scheme for killing certain birds (initially, only red grouse), which will require the landowner to have a licence to allow hunting on their land, and introduces a code of practice for managing that land
• it makes it possible to have Regulations that would give new powers to inspectors, for example from the SSPCA, to gather evidence around certain wildlife crime offences

Part 2 changes the regulation of muirburn. Muirburn is the burning of heather or other plants to manage the natural environment. It is often carried out to encourage new growth, maintain landscapes and habitats, and reduce the risk of wildfires.

If the Bill passes, people will need a licence to undertake muirburn at any point in the year. There would be different requirements depending on the time of year and whether the muirburn is taking place on peatland or not.

Financial Memorandum

As with all Bills, the Finance and Public Administration Committee invites written evidence on the estimated financial implications of the Bill as set out in its accompanying Financial Memorandum (FM).

Read the FM for this Bill: Financial Memorandum.

Your Views

The call for views on the Bill's FM closed on 31 May 2023.

The Committee received 14 submissions to the call for views. Read the submissions on Citizen Space.

The Committee agreed to forward the submissions received to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee as part of that Committee's consideration of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill and to take no further action.