Dog wardens in all councils: EIR release

Information requested

• ‘Access to the Scottish national dog control notice database where every council records dog control notices.
• Access to the phone numbers of dog wardens for each council.
• Access to the process used by local councils throughout Scotland to deal with reports concerning dogs such as stray dogs, dangerous dogs, nuisance dogs or dog attacks. Confirmation on the accuracy of dog warden numbers given on this website: About Animal Wardens | Animal Wardens - Lost Dogs, Found Dogs and if they work with the Scottish Government and local councils.’

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.

Response to your request

• Access to the Scottish national dog control notice database

The answer to your request is the national dog control notice (DCN) database is not owned by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Government does not have direct access to the national DCN database.

It may help to explain that The Scottish Dog Control Database Order 2021 came into force on 31 December 2021 and provided for the establishment of the national DCN database. The national database has been operational since February 2022.

The Order restricts access to the database to only those with reason to require access to the information held for the purposes of the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010.
This is local authorities and Police Scotland (constables and civilian staff), plus those working for the Improvement Service. The Order also sets out that the Improvement Service will manage the database.

The database operates with all 32 local authorities able to upload details of served DCNs, with Police Scotland granted ‘view only’ access.

Within this context, the Scottish Government is not in a position to offer access to the DCN database. It may be helpful to note that even if the Scottish Government were in a position to offer access, it is the case that an exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) would apply to all of the information requested within the database because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we would not be required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

• Access to the phone numbers of dog wardens for each council

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are explained below.

The Scottish Government does not keep a record of the phone numbers for dog wardens in Scottish local authorities.

However, the Scottish Government mygov.scot website has a page where individuals can select the relevant local authority and use the link provided to access that local authority’s information: Report an out of control dog - mygov.scot

• Access to the process used by local councils throughout Scotland to deal with reports concerning dogs such as stray dogs, dangerous dogs, nuisance dogs or dog attacks.

The following information is provided.

Please see the Scottish Government Guidance on the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”), published in December 2020. The best practice guidance can be viewed on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/updated-guidance-control-dogs-scotland-act- 2010/

Further, ‘The Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 (Prescribed Form of Notice) Order 2011’ provides the prescribed form of a Dog Control Notice (DCN). This legislation can be viewed at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2011/39/schedule/made

While the above Order provides the prescribed form of a DCN, local authority authorised officers (i.e. dog wardens) can also impose other specific control measures that must be taken on by the ‘proper person’/ owner of the dog. This is at the discretion of the local authority authorised officer.

The Guidance contains examples of possible further control measures that local authority authorised officers can apply to a DCN.

It should also be noted that Police Scotland officers are responsible for dealing with offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (“the 1991 Act”), where a dog is “dangerously out of control”.

Please see the control of dogs Joint Protocol agreement between Police Scotland and Local Authorities: https://www.safercommunitiesscotland.org/wp-content/uploads/Joint-Protocol-REVISED- 10.09.2021-Control-of-Dogs-pdf.pdf

The Joint Protocol sets out best practice in dealing with incidents relating to dog control with Police Scotland dealing with offences under the 1991 Act, and local authority dog wardens dealing with civil measures under the 2010 Act.

This is not a Scottish Government document, rather it is a recognised agreement between two operational partners. The intention of the Joint Protocol is to aid local authorities and Police Scotland with the decision making process when considering how best to deal with complaints relating to irresponsible dog ownership within our communities where it can on occasion be challenging to assess where the enforcement interest sits.

Within this context, it remains the case that it is for local authorities as an operational matter to consider how best to deal with reports concerning dogs such as stray dogs, dangerous dogs, nuisance dogs or dog attacks.

 

• Confirmation on the accuracy of dog warden numbers given on the website: ‘About Animal Wardens | Animal Wardens - Lost Dogs, Found Dogs’ and if they work with the Scottish Government and local councils.

The following information is provided.

This is not a website previously seen by the Scottish Government Criminal Law, Practice and Licensing Unit and it is not a website which “works” with the Scottish Government.

As noted above, I would refer you to the earlier link to the Scottish Government mygov.scot website to obtain contact details for dog warden teams in Scottish local authorities.

The Scottish Government cannot speak on behalf of individual local authorities regarding the stakeholders they engage with on this issue.

About FOI

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