Seòmar agus comataidhean

I suppose that “as soon as possible” is a clear statement, but if “reasonably” has been used to align the bill with other acts, that is reasonable.

Further to my questions about using birds, I note that Leia Fitzgerald highlighted the exceptions with regard to falconry. I am interested to hear the reasons behind the exceptions for game shooting and deer stalking and how the way that dogs are used in those contexts makes them exceptions.

Thank you for that clarification.

Section 3(3)(e) finishes with the phrase,

“as soon as reasonably possible,”

whereas I believe that, in the 2002 act, there was a mixture of “as soon as possible” and “once it is safe to do so”. I am interested in why “reasonably” has been inserted.

I was going to ask about information flow, but you have already talked about accountability, transparency and scrutiny in quite a bit of detail, especially in response to my colleague Sarah Boyack’s question about retrofitting.

What have we learned about the TCA? Will its governance structures be considered in other agreements, such as trade agreements? How can the Scottish Parliament get involved? What can we learn from our experience of the TCA? What could be improved on?

Thank you.

That ties in with Dr Zuleeg’s comment about the soft power in the relationships that we can continue. Professor Eckes, do you have anything to add?

Perhaps that ties in with the need for better co-ordination between the committees and Parliaments across the UK, and the committee’s meeting our equivalents in Northern Ireland and Wales. Earlier this week, some of us met Westminster’s Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

I will change topic ever so slightly. Last night, we were at a British Veterinary Association dinner. Justine Shotton, its president, talked about the sustainability of the veterinary workforce as a result of Brexit—recruitment and retention issues and the pressures that vets are being put under because of vet certification. As a result of Covid, a lot more people have pets, and as a result of leaving Europe there are different requirements for pets that are travelling. What is the UK Government doing to support the recruitment of vets into the United Kingdom? I recognise that Scotland also has its own responsibility for that.

It is fair to say that the CEEAC Committee recognised that there are significant differences between the market access principles in UKIMA and in the EU single market. In particular, the list of exclusions on public interest grounds from the application of the mutual recognition principle is much narrower in UKIMA. There are differences that impact on devolved competences.

We also took evidence from stakeholders outwith Parliament on various changes in legislation. For example, Scottish Environment LINK said:

“there has been little to no stakeholder engagement on any environmental common frameworks”.

We had something similar from NFU Scotland, which said that it had “not been entirely sighted” on the common frameworks.

How can we, as legislators across the United Kingdom, ensure that we engage stakeholders who have appropriate evidence and views on how we move forward in our post-EU-exit circumstances?

I welcome that comment, but I make a plea to you to understand that the Scottish Parliament, too, has procedures, so the late laying of SIs has an impact on the ability of the Scottish Parliament and this committee to scrutinise new legislation being introduced by Westminster.