Management of deer in Scotland: EIR release

Information requested

The latest available public information on current and proposed proposals concerning the management of deer in Scotland. Please send links to the current Government position and actual plans for future legislation.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes.

This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

I have provided the links you have requested below alongside a little information on each:

The Scottish Government response to the report by the independent Deer Working Group, this sets out our response to each of the 99 recommendations made by them - Deer Working Group response - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government consultation on Managing deer for climate and nature which sets out our proposals for new deer legislation (this consultation ran from 05 January 2024 to 29 March 2024) alongside a statement by the then Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity – Managing deer numbers for nature and climate - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Information, including copies of minutes, on the Scottish Government’s Strategic Deer Management Board. That Board is responsible for agreeing priorities to improve Scotland’s systems of deer management. - Deer Management Strategic Board - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.