Seòmar agus comataidhean

Great; thanks very much for that. Bill Lobban has indicated that he wants to come in.

That is helpful.

Good morning. I will follow on from Alasdair Allan’s question. The charity Blue Cross says that a separate code of practice for those about to buy a dog, rather than on ownership itself, would complement the existing code of practice, as that would cover two different areas of dog ownership—namely, acquiring a dog and owning a dog. Is the Scottish Government supportive of producing guidance on responsibly acquiring, buying and selling a dog?

Thanks for that.

You mentioned the Kennel Club. Our papers refer to its surveys in 2021, 2022 and 2023, which make it clear how bad the situation is and how things have just stayed the same. In that respect, I would be interested in hearing your response to a couple of things. First, given the continuing problems with puppies, why have ministers not brought forward a code through the powers under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006?

My second question is about amendments. I understand the general practice of trying not to put things into legislation, because of the need for flexibility or consultation, but I would imagine that Christine Grahame has already consulted on the elements that need to be in the bill. If the bill is not going to cover the kind of specifics that she is asking for, why not? What makes this issue so special? I guess that the question is connected to the one that I asked initially: why have ministers not brought forward something already?

I want to come back to your remark about the prescriptive nature of the code. The provisions that Christine Grahame has included in sections 2 to 4 all seem to be fairly generic. I cannot imagine that there would be a problem with the proposed questions, because those are questions that any prospective owner would want to ask themselves, although we might want to change the provisions in section 4, on the certificate. It seems to me that what is laid out in sections 2 to 4 would be required, but section 5 provides that ministers may revise the code from time to time, as long as it continues to give effect to sections 2 to 4. Christine Grahame wants to ensure that the provisions of sections 2 to 4 will have a lasting life. Those provisions seem fairly generic in that they include fundamental things that we would want a code to include.

You said that the code of practice provisions are a bit prescriptive, but you also pointed to the six-month period for the code of practice to come into effect and the desire to go out to consultation again. I would be interested in hearing whether you would be open to the six-month period being amended and what sort of period you think would be appropriate.

So, it is a language issue.

I heard your concerns about the registration scheme. We have heard from stakeholders that a system of regulation to cover all litters is welcome, but that it would have to sit alongside a user-friendly, easily accessible, centralised and transparent register of anyone breeding and selling dogs in order to be easily enforced. I heard your concerns about names and addresses, but what came up at our previous evidence session related to the centralised nature of the scheme and that it would be good to be able to cross-reference on a national basis.

Right, so we cannot separate it out.

Thank you very much. It has been very helpful to hear from the witnesses this morning. It has been useful for us to get through those questions and to hear your responses.

I will briefly suspend the meeting to allow for a changeover of witnesses.

Thank you very much for that, Ben. Just to let you know, work is being done on taxing empty homes. That is a piece of the puzzle.