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The way that I look at it is that we are responding to a public safety issue. Over the past few years, we have worked with stakeholders to develop the right provision. We need a provision that is workable, and we think that the provision in the bill is workable. As a minister, it is my job to use the least intrusive legislation that is possible to achieve the public safety objective. As we have said, Police Scotland was aware that the provision was to be included in the bill. I think that it is workable. However, the fact that Police Scotland has raised concerns means that we can continue to work with it to make sure that we get the provision right.

My view is that the approach that we are taking is a proportionate response. I hope that Parliament will agree, but it is for the committee to decide whether what is in the bill treads the line of responding to the issue and meeting the objective in the least intrusive way.

Yes. We greatly value the input from Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Federation on these matters. They have played an important role in developing the bill. The evidence that we have received from Police Scotland is that the provision as drafted is workable but, as we have said, we are happy to listen to the committee’s views on whether it strikes the appropriate balance.

We did a review of the evidence and published a lot of the information that Russell Findlay is talking about. I will ask Elinor Findlay to give the committee a bit more detail on that in a moment.

A lot of enforcement activity goes on, specifically in the run-up to bonfire night. As we know, that is the busiest time of year for the emergency services, which do an immense amount of preventative work, as do our partners. We all recognise that there is an issue once fireworks get into the wrong hands, and we potentially need to look at that. However, I am quite clear that a lot of enforcement activity is already being undertaken.

I ask Elinor Findlay, who has, no doubt, now had time to find that information, to give us a bit more detail.

We changed the name to firework control zones in the bill because that more accurately reflects what the provision is designed to do.

I believe that the provision will have an impact on both the misuse of fireworks, as the member suggested, and their legitimate use, which can be problematic for a number of people. The idea is to reduce the use of fireworks in particular areas where they are impacting on people because of their prolonged and unpredictable nature. It will give local authorities the ability to look at what is happening in their area and take action to address it.

When we were developing the provisions in the bill, it came through strongly to me that local authorities were very interested in having that provision because they felt that it would help them to address the issues that they see and it would give them control over setting the areas. Areas near care homes, older people’s homes, shelters for animals and that type of thing might be designated in that way. The provision allows a degree of flexibility. We have said that public displays could still take place in the areas, and community groups could still put on displays, too.

I can see that there is an argument that the provision has possibly not struck the right balance, so I am interested to hear the committee’s view.

I agree that public messaging and the public awareness campaign are an extremely important part of the whole picture. In advance of bonfire night in 2021 and 2020, we ran three different awareness-raising and public safety campaigns. I will speak about them, because we will repeat them this year.

The first is the nationwide campaign on the impact of fireworks, which aims to improve people’s awareness and understanding of the impacts that fireworks can have on people and animals. It encourages people who will use fireworks to think about the impact on others and to follow the safety instructions and the firework code.

The second campaign is run in partnership with the charity Crimestoppers and it is supported by Police Scotland. It is focused on areas where there are higher levels of misuse. It focuses on improving people’s awareness and understanding of the existing rules and regulations, in particular, and how and when people should report misuse of fireworks, potentially anonymously. That goes back to the points that were made earlier about people seeing illegal fireworks being sold in their areas. It gives them an anonymous way to report that information.

The third campaign provides advice in retail outlets, at the point of sale for consumer fireworks, on the safe and appropriate use of fireworks.

We plan to run those campaigns again this year. If Parliament agrees to the provisions in the bill, we also hope that some of them will be in operation before bonfire night—the proxy purchasing offence and the provisions relating to pyrotechnics.

Enforcement is a matter for our operational partners, but yes. The key thing is to make sure that the public are aware of what they are and are not allowed to do, with a view to creating that culture change. People should be quite clear that they are not allowed to set off fireworks at those times.

I think that I mentioned to Fulton MacGregor that we received that 10-point plan, and that some of those recommendations were for the UK Government to consider, not us. There were some good suggestions in the plan, and we considered the issue that you mention.

However, we do not have plans to raise the minimum age for buying fireworks at the moment, because a blanket ban on the sale and use of fireworks for adults between the ages of, let us say, 18 and 21 or 25 could be disproportionate and, potentially, discriminatory, particularly compared with other relevant age limits on comparable goods and services.

We do not have evidence that suggests that the bill will fuel a black market. We have looked carefully at evidence from countries where restrictions have been tightened, and we did not find any that it has fuelled the black market. There does not seem to be much evidence of a black market in Scotland at the moment. Clearly, the agencies at work in the area will continue to review that. I hope that we will be able to come back to the committee with evidence on that in a few years, so that we can discuss what impact the measures have had.

When we talk about restricting fireworks, people will often talk about the merits of a ban or not having a ban. As I set out, we considered that. I think the member will accept that, for constitutional reasons, Scotland is not able to do everything exactly the way it would want to; we have to work within the constitutional arrangements. Natalie Stewart and I have explained how that impacted on what we are doing here. We also decided not to pursue a ban for policy reasons anyway, because we did not think it was proportionate. I have already set that out in detail.

On businesses, about 650 retailers supply fireworks to the public, I think, most of which do so on a seasonal or temporary basis. They supply them at the typical times of year, as you might expect: around bonfire season and new year. The provisions in the bill broadly align with that. A small number of businesses—nine, I think—sell fireworks all year round, and another business sells and also imports them, which takes us up to 10. Elinor Findlay will correct me if I am getting this wrong. Those 10 businesses have a different licence to sell. Clearly, the provisions on supply that are contained in the bill will potentially have an impact on those businesses.

We have said, therefore, that when we are able to receive evidence on the type of effect that the bill has had on those businesses, we will develop a compensation scheme for them to ensure that they will not suffer in that way.

It is important to look at what other countries are doing. There is no point in reinventing the wheel with this policy. It is obviously a good idea to look at things that have worked well elsewhere. The converse is also true. We want to look at where things have not worked well, if we can find the data. The problem is that it can often be difficult to find data that can be used to illustrate the policy. The data also comes from a different setting. It is not advisable to take something that works well somewhere else and just drop it into Scotland, because of the different context. We took all that into account.

The review group spent some time looking at other jurisdictions, particularly Northern Ireland and Ireland, to see what was working elsewhere. Obviously, those two jurisdictions are not the same—Northern Ireland has a licensing system, while Ireland has a complete ban—so, again, the context is quite different. Nevertheless, from the data that we have been able to see, it looks as though there has been a reduction in harms in both those settings.

I think that Elinor Findlay has found the right page of the briefing, so I will let her give you a bit more detail on that point.

In 2019, I launched a public consultation following incidents over the bonfire season in previous years. There was an overwhelming response of more than 16,400 replies. Analytical work was also undertaken, including an opinion poll, to provide views representative of adults in Scotland. A strong message emerged from that work that the status quo was not an option.

It was clear that people wanted change and to see tighter controls on the sale and use of fireworks in Scotland. The representative opinion poll showed that a majority of adults in Scotland felt that there should be more controls over the sale of fireworks, at 71 per cent, and over their use, at 68 per cent. Contributing factors included the misuse of fireworks and the wider harm, noise and disturbance that fireworks can cause. People thought that there is a place for well-organised firework displays, but the unpredictable use of fireworks by members of the public was identified as a problem.

I established the independent firework review group to consider all the available evidence and the legislative options for change. The group reached a majority consensus that a fundamental change is required in how fireworks are accessed and used by the public. The misuse of pyrotechnics is a growing problem that can cause injury, distress, alarm and damage to property. Although we are not aware of any fatalities due to pyrotechnic misuse in Scotland, there have been severe injuries. There have been fatalities in other countries, and I want to do all that I can to prevent fatalities or further injuries from happening in Scotland.

In response to the significant concerns that have been raised, the Scottish Government hosted a series of discussions with stakeholders to look at what more could be done. As a result, I made the decision to consult more widely on the misuse of pyrotechnics as part of the broader 2021 consultation. The results of the consultation show that a majority of those who responded agree with each of the provisions that are included in the bill, that 84 per cent agree that a fireworks licensing system should be introduced and that 83 per cent agree with the introduction of no-firework areas.

The bill has five key policies. First, it proposes a firework licensing system, which will require the public to apply for a licence to purchase, acquire, possess and use F2 and F3 fireworks. Secondly, it proposes restrictions on the days on which fireworks can be supplied to and used by the public, which will broadly align with existing traditional firework periods. Thirdly, it proposes firework control zones, which will provide local authorities with the power to designate areas where it is not permitted for the public to use fireworks, so that communities can have a much greater say in how fireworks can be used in their local area. Fourthly, the bill proposes a proxy purchase and supply offence to ensure that adults who supply fireworks or pyrotechnic articles to children, under any circumstances, can be held accountable. Finally, it proposes an offence of being in possession of a pyrotechnic without reasonable excuse while travelling to, being in the immediate vicinity of or attending a designated sporting or music venue or event, or a public procession or public assembly.

I am aware that legislation was introduced in the United Kingdom to ban certain types of fireworks, such as bangers. That has been successful, as has been highlighted by the fireworks industry. It is clear that legislation can have a positive and direct impact in reducing harm.

To conclude, convener, these issues are complex, but the bill strikes a proportionate balance between introducing the necessary restrictions and ensuring that robust checks and balances are in place to mitigate unintended consequences, while fully utilising the powers of the Parliament to reduce harms and help us to protect our communities.