Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: business and regulatory impact assessment

2. Purpose and Intended Effect

Background

The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill "the Bill" will introduce measures to:

• ban the use and purchase of glue traps;
• introduce licensing and training requirements for certain types of wildlife traps;
• introduce a licensing regime for land used for the shooting of red grouse; and
• introduce licensing for all muirburn, regardless of the time of year that it is undertaken. Muirburn on peatland will only be permitted in very limited circumstances.

The Bill will make it an offence to:

• set a glue trap for the purpose of catching any animal (apart from an invertebrate);
• use a glue trap in a manner that is likely to cause bodily injury to any animal (other than an invertebrate); and
• purchase a glue trap that is designed to capture any animal (other than an invertebrate).

The Bill inserts provisions into the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 ("the 1981 Act") to require that anyone who wishes to use live capture bird traps or traps listed in an order made under section 50 of the Agriculture (Scotland) Act 1948 ("the 1948 Act") (which is currently the Spring Traps Approval (Scotland) Order 2011 ("the STAO")) must have a licence and meet the following conditions:

• complete training by an approved body each time they apply or renew their licence;
• register with the relevant authority (Scottish Ministers or if delegated Scottish Natural Heritage (operating as NatureScot)) for a unique licence number;
• display this unique licence number on each trap they use; and
• use the trap in accordance with the training.

The Bill also inserts provisions into the 1981 Act to require that the shooting of red grouse will only be permitted if the landowner has a licence which covers the land on which the shooting takes place. If a person does so without such a licence, they will have committed an offence under section 1 of the 1981 Act and the penalties for such an offence will apply.

Lastly, the Bill repeals the muirburn provisions in the Hill Farming Act 1946 ("the 1946 Act") and replaces it with provisions to require that any muirburn will be unlawful unless carried out under a licence, for limited purposes, with further limitation on muirburn on peatland.

Objective

A report from NatureScot in May 2017 found that around a third of satellite-tagged golden eagles in Scotland disappeared in suspicious circumstances, on or around grouse moors.

In response to this report, Roseanna Cunningham, the then Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, commissioned an independent group to look at the environmental impact of grouse moor management (the Grouse Moor Management Group - GMMG).

Alongside this review, the Scottish Government commissioned separate research into the costs and benefits of large shooting estates to Scotland's economy and biodiversity.

The GMMG's remit was to examine the environmental impact of grouse moor management practices such as muirburn, the use of medicated grit and mountain hare culls, and advise on the option of licensing grouse shooting businesses. In doing so the group were asked to have due regard to the socio-economic impacts of grouse moor management so that they might continue to contribute to the rural economy, while being environmentally sustainable and compliant with the law.

The GMMG report ("the Werritty report") made over 40 recommendations relating to grouse moor management including recommendations on licensing grouse shooting muirburn and the use of traps.

On 29 November 2020 the Scottish Government set out its response to the recommendations in "The Scottish Government Response to the Report from the Grouse Moor Management Group".

The Bill is being introduced to address raptor persecution and ensure that the management of grouse moors and related activities are undertaken in an environmentally sustainable and welfare conscious manner. The Bill will do this by implementing the recommendations of the Werritty report.

Rationale for Government intervention

The Scottish Government's Programme for Government 2022-23 committed to bringing forward a Bill to implement the recommendations of the Grouse Moor Management Review Group ("the GMMG") and introduce licensing for grouse moor management to ensure that the management of driven grouse moors and related activities is undertaken in an environmentally sustainable manner, as well as including provisions to ban glue traps.

The Bute House agreement also committed to take action to tackle wildlife crime and to address the environmental impacts of intensive grouse moor management. The agreement supports delivery of the recommendations of the GMMG, including the licensing of grouse moors. It stipulated that licensing or further regulation would cover the key areas identified in the review, including muirburn, wildlife control, the use of medicated grit and wildlife crime, and that it will be supported by clear penalties to encourage compliance, as well as additional effort to detect wildlife crime.

By addressing wildlife crime and the environmental impacts of intensive grouse moor management, we would progress the National Performance Framework Environmental outcome of "We value, enjoy, protect and enhance our environment."

In doing so we would also contribute to the 'Life on land' UN Sustainable development goal;

"15.5 Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species."