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Again, we will consider that when we start looking at the potential for licensing.

Not at the moment, no.

I am very happy to appear before the committee today to discuss petition PE1758, which calls for an end to greyhound racing in Scotland. Animal welfare is an important issue for the vast majority of people in Scotland. It is also an issue that the Scottish Government takes very seriously, and we are committed to the highest standards when it comes to the welfare of all animals in Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises that there is support for action to address the welfare concerns associated with greyhound racing. This is why we agreed to include greyhound racing in the animal licensing consultation that we ran last year, when we sought views on the regulation of greyhound tracks in Scotland.

Our consultation confirmed that action on greyhound racing is strongly supported, with approximately half of respondents supporting licensing and half responding that they were not sure about it. Those who were not sure about licensing were of the opinion that it did not go far enough and that only a ban would be effective in protecting greyhound welfare. Over and above the consultation responses that we received, over 1,100 campaign responses were also sent to the Scottish Government animal welfare team, with campaign signatories calling for greyhound racing to end entirely.

This morning, I am sure that we will discuss the evidence for and against the prohibition of greyhound racing in Scotland and I welcome the opportunity to engage in those discussions. I advise the committee, however, that at this time the Scottish Government is not persuaded of the need to ban greyhound racing in Scotland. In particular, we are not convinced that such a ban is a proportionate and fair response to the animal welfare concerns arising from the practice.

As the members of this committee know, in Scotland we now have only one active greyhound track—at Thornton stadium in Fife. Thornton runs as an independent track, in that it does not operate under the rules of the Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Attendance at Thornton both by those who are racing dogs and those who are spectating has been declining for many years as interest in the sport wanes and as public opinion against greyhound racing shifts. Although on-site gambling is still a traditional part of race nights at Thornton, it takes place on a considerably lesser scale than occurs at Greyhound Board of Great Britain venues, where races are often televised, competition is intense and gambling happens on a commercial scale.

The central argument for prohibiting greyhound racing in Scotland is the published Greyhound Board of Great Britain statistics on greyhound deaths and injuries attributed to racing. The Scottish Government agrees that the statistics presented are unacceptable and that any greyhound injury or death is something that must be addressed. However, it must be recognised that currently we do not have verifiable, comparable data for Thornton stadium. The statistics for greyhound injuries and deaths relate to those incurred as part of the much larger-scale greyhound racing that takes place in England. We must therefore caution against making assumptions about the current situation in Scotland and legislating to ban a sport, however contentious, without a sound evidence base for doing so.

As far as the Scottish Government is aware, no complaints have been made to the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals about the activities at Thornton stadium and no enforcement action has been taken due to animal welfare concerns against the operators of the venue. Again, I would stress that these factors must be borne in mind when considering the case for the proportionality of a ban in Scotland.

I will end there and I am happy to take part in the conversation as we go forward.

Sorry—what did you say about the level of suffering being proportionate?

We will certainly keep the committee informed as and when there are any developments in that, if that would be helpful.

Gambling does happen at the track in Thornton—the last one that is open in Scotland. In fact, if the gambling does not happen, the race does not go ahead. There is definitely a correlation between the two, but it is not the high stakes, televised gambling that could be described as more of a professional thing. What they are doing at the Thornton track is a wee bit like pigeon racing. Guys will put money on their pigeons—they pool them every week. They put money on each bird and if that bird comes in that is it. It is not about making money. It is about adding to the excitement of the social occasion that Alasdair Allan alluded to.

All of those things will be considered when we get down to the detail of what this might look like.

We would look at that proposition as it came forward. We would have to look at them independently.

You asked especially about the design. The design of the track is no different as far as I am aware. I could be wrong on that, and Andrew Voas can correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is that it is an oval track in exactly the same way as at Thornton, so there is no difference.

That is anecdotal, from people I have spoken to and from some of the evidence that we have heard in the committee about the professionalism at a GBGB track. There, it is about professional, high stakes dogs running for the purpose of winning, as opposed to somebody racing a dog where that is not their fundamental reason for having the dog.