Animal Health Fixed Penalty Notice Scheme: consultation

Part A: About this Consultation

Why are we consulting

Under the Animal Health Act 1981, Scottish Ministers have the power to make regulations allowing for fixed penalty notices (FPNs) to be used for certain animal health offences. FPNs are a financial penalty that can be offered to someone alleged to have committed an offence and may be used as an alternative to criminal prosecution.

The offences in relation to which FPNs may be issued are offences under the Animal Health Act 1981 or orders or regulations made under that Act, offences under the Bees Act 1980 or orders made under that Act, or offences under another enactment which the Scottish Ministers consider relates to animal health. FPNs may only be issued in relation to offences for which the maximum penalty on conviction does not exceed a term of imprisonment of 6 months or a fine of level 5 on the standard scale^[1] (or both).

FPNs will complement existing enforcement options rather than replace them. They will provide an additional level of enforcement that does not require referral to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), but still provides a meaningful and dissuasive penalty for those who are considered to have committed an offence. FPNs will be used alongside the existing portfolio of enforcement measures to promote compliance with legislative requirements and reduce the likelihood of re-offending.

We are launching this consultation to gather views on specific proposals for the animal health FPN scheme, including:

• who can issue FPNs;
• how FPNs will be issued;
• what the effect of paying a FPN will be;
• what the consequence of not paying a FPN will be;
• where FPNs should be paid to;
• where the proceeds of FPNs should go;
• how FPNs can be appealed or withdrawn;
• if the FPN regulations should create offences of obstruction and what the penalty should be;
• what the maximum and minimum penalty amount should be;
• if there should be a scale of penalties;
• if there should be any circumstances where the penalty amount is increased or decreased; and
• which offences should be covered by the scheme.

This consultation will help us to gauge attitudes towards these proposals and make informed decisions to develop the animal health FPN scheme. It will also help us to account for any unanticipated impacts that the proposals could have.

Offences that relate to animal welfare and wildlife are out of scope of the animal health FPN power and have therefore not been considered in this consultation. FPNs for animal welfare offences will be consulted on separately at a later date. Those teams are aware of the proposals being developed in this consultation.

Animal health is a devolved matter and the proposals included in this consultation apply to Scotland only.

Anyone is welcome to respond to this consultation. We would particularly like to hear from: local authorities and other enforcement agencies, the keepers of livestock (including poultry and bees), agricultural businesses or organisations, animal or farming associations, veterinary professionals, and anyone else with an interest in animal health.

Responding to this consultation

We are inviting responses to this consultation by 29 May 2025. This consultation will run from 7 March 2025 until 29 May 2025 which is a period of 12 weeks.

Please respond to this consultation using the Scottish Government’s consultation

platform, Citizen Space. You view and respond to this consultation online at

https://consult.gov.scot/animal-health-and-welfare/animal-health-fixed-penalty-notice-scheme . You can save and return to your responses while the consultation is still open. Please ensure that consultation responses are submitted before the closing date of 29 May 2025.

If you are unable to respond using our consultation hub, please complete the Respondent Information Form and return along with your response to:

Or send this by email to: animalhealthFPNscheme@gov.scot

Scottish Government consultation process

Consultation is an essential part of the policy-making process. It gives us the opportunity to consider your opinion and expertise on a proposed area of work.

You can find all our consultations online: http://consult.scotland.gov.uk. Each consultation details the issues under consideration, as well as a way for you to give us your views, either online, by email or by post.

Responses will be analysed and used as part of the decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of this analysis for every consultation. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.

Final decisions on the issues under consideration will also take account of a range of other factors, including other available information and research evidence.

Handling your response

If you respond using the consultation hub, you will be directed to the About You page before submitting your response. Please indicate how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are content for your response to be published. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

If you are unable to respond via Citizen Space, please complete and return the Respondent Information Form included in this document.

To find out how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy policy: https://www.gov.scot/privacy/

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public at http://consult.gov.scot. If you use the consultation hub to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us develop the animal health FPN scheme regulations and guidance. Responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so. An analysis report will also be made available.

How to make an enquiry

The Scottish Government’s Animal Health & Welfare Division, Disease Control Team is responsible for this consultation. If you have any queries about this consultation please contact the Scottish Government Animal Health & Welfare Disease Control Team at: animalhealthFPNscheme@gov.scot

Comments and Complaints

You may provide any comments on your experience of the consultation as a part of the consultation questions. Alternatively you may also send any comments that you may have about how this consultation exercise has been conducted to animalhealthFPNscheme@gov.scot