Meeting of the Parliament 19 March 2024
Any animal crossing a glue trap will be caught. The reality is that the cruelty to rats and mice is absolutely clear for everyone to see. No matter who sets such traps, sentient animals suffer appalling distress during that time, which is why glue traps should be banned, and that ban should be watertight. It is typical of Edward Mountain that, once again, he adopts a do-nothing attitude and is unwilling to consider any alternatives.
Amendment 40, in my name, aims to close a loophole within the proposed ban, by making it an offence to
“knowingly cause or permit another unauthorised person”
to use a glue trap.
Paragraph 12 on page 3 of the explanatory notes accompanying the bill states that the offence of using such a trap does not apply if the person has
“a reasonable excuse for using or setting a glue trap. For example, it is not the intention to criminalise circumstances where a person is compelled to use a glue trap by a workplace superior.”
That raises the prospect that a person could get round the ban by compelling someone else to use a trap. “Causing or permitting” offences are used in a wide variety of legislative provisions to prevent individuals from escaping sanctions when they have made or allowed another person to commit an offence on their behalf. In fact, there is an example of such a provision in section 9(2)(b) of the bill, which creates the offence of causing or permitting another person to make muirburn without a licence.
At stage 2, I lodged an amendment that would have included such a provision on glue traps in section 1. The previous minister acknowledged the need for such a provision, but asked me not to move my amendment and said that the Government would consider an alternative wording, which it has done. I will move a reworded amendment at the appropriate time.
Amendments 38 and 39, in the name of Christine Grahame, appear to have a similar aim to my amendment 40 and would remove the words “without reasonable excuse” from the offence. Amendment 40 is a more appropriate solution, but I would happily support amendments 38 and 39 if Christine Grahame presses them. The wording of my amendment 40 makes reference to an “unauthorised person”. That reflects the fact that the Government has proposed amendments for exceptions to offences on the use, supply and possession of glue traps so long as the person is authorised under the scheme, which is required to be established by regulations.
I share Christine Grahame’s concerns on that proposal. Although it is certainly preferable to the licensing scheme proposed by Edward Mountain in amendments 41 to 43, which simply attempt to undermine any ban, it concerns me that the Government is proposing amendments that will make a material change to the bill very late in the day, with absolutely no discussion with Opposition members. Those amendments were lodged at the last minute, which has made it almost impossible to scrutinise them, never mind propose changes to them if we were to have concerns.
As we have heard, there is a full ban in Wales. It is therefore deeply disappointing that, at the 11th hour, the Scottish Government is watering down its proposed ban. Notwithstanding that, I hope that, in his comments, the minister will make it absolutely clear that the use of that enabling power would be considered in the future only if there were strong evidence to suggest that a complete ban on the use of glue traps was giving rise to significant public health problems, and that any authorisation would be granted only as a last resort in exceptional circumstances and for time-limited periods.
I hope, too, that the minister will make it clear to the industry that any authorisation scheme would be a temporary step, and that its expectation would be that the industry will adopt alternative methods, as the Government’s own Scottish Animal Welfare Commission said should happen if an authorisation scheme were to be adopted.
Perhaps Edward Mountain should consider this aspect. In other countries with similar schemes, such as New Zealand, which brought in its scheme in 2015, the numbers of applications have decreased significantly over the years, and in the past few years there have been none at all. The minister must make it absolutely clear to the industry that that is what he expects to see happen in Scotland.