The Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020 Review: Survey report

1. Introduction

This report outlines the findings of a survey we carried out as part of a review of The Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020, which made a number of amendments to animal welfare, animal health and wildlife legislation. The survey was sent to a range of stakeholders working in Marine Wildlife, Aquaculture and Fisheries, Terrestrial Wildlife, Animal Health and Welfare. It was open from 8 July to 26 August 2024 and received 55 responses.

Introduction

This report outlines the findings of a survey carried out as part of a review of The Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020.^[1]

The 2020 Act made a number of amendments to animal welfare, animal health and wildlife legislation. The majority of the provisions in the Act relate to increasing penalties for the most serious wildlife and animal welfare crimes, while some provisions provide additional powers or place additional obligations to address specific issues.

Purpose

Section 16 of the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020 places a legal obligation on Scottish Ministers to undertake a review of these provisions to assess they have been and continue to be sufficient.

As part of this review, Scottish Government officials are engaging with key stakeholders to gather feedback on the impact of the provisions. As part of this engagement, we carried out a survey between July and August 2024.

The survey had four sections:

1. Introduction

2. Marine Wildlife

3. Terrestrial Wildlife

4. Animal Health and Welfare

Table 1 provides a breakdown of responses to each section.

Method

We carried out an online survey. The questionnaire can be found in Annex 1. We sent a survey invitation, link and privacy notice by email to a list of stakeholders who work for organisations in the areas of Marine Wildlife, Aquaculture and Fisheries, Terrestrial Wildlife, Animal Health and Welfare. This list was provided by Scottish Government policy officials.

In total, we contacted 71 organisations. The survey was open from 8 July to 26 August 2024 and received 55 valid responses.^[2]

We received responses from 46 different organisations, including 26 local authorities and council areas (see Annex 2 for a list). This represents a 65% response rate. In some cases, we received more than one response from an organisation. We also received responses from a small number of individuals.

We received a written response from the Scottish Sentencing Council. This is included in Annex 3.

We used routing questions in the survey to ensure that respondents only answered questions relevant to the sector they work in.

The Privacy Notice can be found in Annex 4. A Data Protection Impact Assessment was conducted prior to commencement of the research and made available to the respondents on request.