Meeting of the Parliament 09 May 2024
Thank you very much.
Part 2 seeks to establish a register of unlicensed litters, and I remain passionately committed to the policy behind that proposal. At present, given the lack of any licensing regime for those who do not register as licensed breeders—there is legislation for that—there is no way of tracing where each puppy sold in Scotland comes from, which enables unscrupulous breeders to continue to sell large numbers of puppies outwith the licence system.
The intention behind part 2 is to improve traceability. Any dog that is being sold or transferred in Scotland needs to be on a searchable database. That would enable the public to take informed decisions when sourcing a puppy, and it would aid enforcement, making puppies sold outwith either regime—including through the illegal puppy trade—far easier to identify.
However, I am realistic about the difficult financial environment in which we are operating, and I know that local authorities are under immense resource pressures. I firmly believe that a thoroughly implemented register, brought in at a time when resources are less sparse, would have been beneficial. However, as the committee knows from stage 1 evidence, I have conceded that it might be better to actively pursue another approach to improving traceability, by which I mean taking forward the long-standing need to make progress with the microchipping regime.
A solution to traceability that does not require further legislation would be the ability to trace all dogs through the microchipping system, which I will say more about later. Progress in this area is long overdue. Given the benefits that the bill would deliver and the scale of the urgency of the problem, I welcome comments from the minister on plans to engage with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on microchipping and on getting work moving on the solution. On the basis that that valuable work will happen, I am content to support the Scottish Government’s proposal to remove part 2 of my bill, with the caveat that I want there to be progress on a microchipping portal.
I very much look forward to hearing the speeches in the debate, which I am sure will be robust, and I will respond to as many points as I can in my closing remarks.
15:16