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The testing of water supplies was not one of the things that the James Hutton Institute identified, but that is an interesting point. If we take Asulam out of the system by not allowing the emergency authorisation this year, we will not expect such contamination to occur.

That is a really good question. For the 2023 season, some people received money through AECS for chemical control. We have removed the ability for them to do that. It was agreed that those who had received funding would retain it and that they could alter their proposal. For example, if it was useful for them to use the money for mechanical control, that could be done. We allowed some flexibility to make sure that those AECS recipients could still make use of the funding that they had received. The cabinet secretary has—budgetary pressures permitting—committed to include funding for bracken control in the next round of AECS.

NatureScot will update the best practice guide.

I support your call for a thriving venison industry, and I agree that we should ensure that those deer become a reliable food source. You correctly identified that changing the ammunition weight allows non-lead ammunition to be used by more practitioners, because it fits the standard firearm that most people have.

We are doing several things to ensure that there is a thriving venison industry. We have been working with those in the industry to promote venison as a healthy lean meat by providing £60,000 of funding for an online marketing campaign. We have been supporting local chill and processing facilities through £80,000 of funding being made available for a pilot project. I am also aware that the Scottish Venison Association has recently announced that its partnership with the Country Food Trust will result in wild venison from Scottish deer going to food banks, kitchens and other charities.

Absolutely. NatureScot undertook a trial of the minimum bullet weights that are being proposed to shoot deer, in order to ensure that animal welfare would not be compromised. I share the member’s concern about that.

We considered the results of the NatureScot report, alongside advice from NatureScot on deer welfare. I read NatureScot’s “Review of the minimum bullet weight for the lawful culling of all deer species in Scotland” report—it is very interesting with regard to the placement of the shot and so on. The review found that the proposed changes would have

“no detrimental effect on deer welfare.”

That is partly because, along with the change to the minimum weight, the requirements for muzzle velocity and bullet energy are unchanged. With regard to the effect that the member mentions, that fits within the grounds for leeway—there is, as he said, some leeway in that regard—because it still requires the minimum energy of the bullet to have that impact on the animal.

When NatureScot investigated the use of night sights and the proposed change to ammunition weights, it did not find any welfare concerns at all, over and above those that apply in relation to lamping, which is a practice for trying to see things in the dark. No additional welfare concerns were found. That has been addressed from the ammunition angle and the night-sight angle.

Of course, as Edward Mountain will know, it is always up to the practitioner not to take the shot unless it is safe to do so—unless they have a correct backstop and the animal has been correctly identified and paired up with any young that it might be responsible for. It is always up to the person who pulls the trigger to decide whether the shot is safe to take.

That is correct.

The SSI is part of the 99 recommendations. On its own, it will not make all the difference that we need to make. It is part of a larger programme of work. It removes the administrative burden, which was one of the recommendations from the deer working group, but I would not expect the SSI to have a measurable impact on its own.

As far as I am aware, no applications have been turned down.

That is, of course, part of the welfare consideration with regard to this issue. As we discussed just a moment ago, the professionals who undertake deer management need to consider the welfare of the animals when they are undertaking stalking. Professionals need to consider whether hinds are present and, if there are welfare considerations, they should stop their activity and do it at a different time.

That lies with the practitioners, who know best and have the expertise to make a decision as to whether to pull the trigger and whether to undertake a stalk on any particular day.