Rural Affairs and Islands Committee 10 December 2025 [Draft]
Amendment 254 would require ministers to introduce a venison action plan that sets out what action Scottish ministers will take to ensure that public bodies regularly offer venison as a meal. Through several freedom of information requests, the Scottish Conservatives looked at the number of universities and public institutions that were serving venison, and they were few and far between. The amendment also puts the onus on ministers to take action to remove barriers to demand and supply. Currently, there is no requirement for public bodies to use venison, and uptake across local authorities and health boards is minimal. Only one local authority serves venison in schools and no health board offers it to patients. That is despite venison being a good source of micronutrients, high in protein and locally sourced, and its increased use being helpful in managing Scotland’s growing deer population. The action plan would help introduce measures to support suppliers, grow the rural economy and improve distribution so that venison can be served in hospitals, schools and other public sector catering establishments.
Likewise, amendment 255 would require ministers to introduce a venison action plan that sets out how deer larders, butchery facilities and distributors can be best utilised to maximise the amount of venison available for human consumption. It is very similar to Rhoda Grant’s amendment 75, but my amendment 255 introduces a requirement for ministers to review the current processing capacity and to outline action that will be taken to increase that capacity in order to strengthen the industry and promote Scotland’s venison supply, which I know is something that the Scottish Government supports.
Last month, at an agritourism roundtable, I met Lauren Houston of Glenkilrie Larder, which has a cook school. With funding from the Cairngorms 2030 programme and support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Lauren and her husband Andrew have donated more than 775kg of venison to 26 schools, nurseries and children’s events from their family farm near Blairgowrie. Lauren believes, rightly, that our young people deserve good food on the table and that venison is an option that should be on the school menu. Grass-roots enterprises such as Lauren’s are leading the way in putting venison on plates across Scotland, but they should not have to do it alone.
Together, amendments 254 and 255 would ensure that we have both the supply of venison, through improved processing capacity, and demand for it, through the encouragement of public procurement, which accounts for more than £130 million of food spend in Scotland annually.
To close my remarks for this group, I would like to read part of a poem written by Lauren, called “Care of Glenshee”:
I come from rolling hills and arable land.
I’d never seen anything so vast, so grand.
Glen of fairies a magical sight
Heather hill and rocky face
Grouse nesting and hares who race.
Stags roaring and lapwing overhead.
Oyster catchers in the brush,
Roe deer in a speedy rush.
Kites and buzzards fly above
In a landscape that they love.
Glenshee may look wild and free.
This is untrue I hope you can see.
The balance here not by chance,
It is work of hand not happenstance
Protection that often goes unseen
Keepers brave the dark of night
While you lie in your bed cosy and tight.
The farmer who works all hours of the day
For satisfaction, tradition but little pay.
Constantly told they harm not care
But in the same breath, people shout of the beauty everywhere.
Managed well and land will thrive.
It’s farmers and keepers who keep this glen alive.