Seòmar agus comataidhean

I thoroughly welcome yesterday’s announcement that the Scottish Government will lodge amendments at stage 2 to expand the SSPCA’s powers. Green colleagues have been campaigning for that for many years now.

At the end of the letter that was sent to the committee yesterday, it says that the amendments will be lodged after “further consultation with stakeholders”. Who are you going to be consulting and what kind of questions will you be asking them?

I also asked whether you would be willing to commission further research on how peatlands and those maturer landscapes can act as natural firebreaks.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Can you go into a bit more detail on that? After all, you are clearly getting some pushback from people who are saying that it is not.

Thanks very much.

I have a couple of questions about wildfires. The committee has heard that muirburn is an important tool in managing wildfire risk but that its use must be justified by a genuine need to manage for wildfires in specific circumstances. I would be interested to hear whether the bill strikes the right balance.

I recently visited Cannich and Corrimony and saw at first hand the devastation that took place there. It was interesting to see an area of peatland where the fire had basically skipped around it. The other thing that I thought was really interesting was that, on the hillside where there were mature trees, the fire stopped. You could see a line of burn, and the mature trees held it back.

I think that there is something in that, so I would be interested to hear in what ways the Scottish Government is looking to create, in the longer term, more wildfire-resilient landscapes as the climate changes. Will you commission further research on how peatland and other landscapes—those maturer landscapes—can act as natural firebreaks without the need for muirburn?

I want to pick up on the numbers and the apparent decline in raptor killings. The figures that the committee has in its papers, which were provided by Police Scotland, show that there have been 88 offences over those five years. Ashley McCann, do you consider 88 offences to be a small number, or do you have other evidence to show that raptor persecution is really in decline? Eighty eight offences is 88 offences: that is 88 killed raptors.

Were there animals in those other traps?

This question is for the RSPB, and it is about the fact that you have some concerns that the season will extend until April. Can you tell us about that?