Pesticide usage in Scotland: Rodenticide use by Local Authorities 2023

Introduction

The Scottish Government (SG) monitors post-approval use of rodenticides. This surveillance is conducted by the Wildlife Management Unit and the Pesticide Survey Unit at SASA, a division of the Scottish Government's Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate.

As part of this monitoring programme, a survey was conducted of Scottish local authority (LA) rodenticide use during 2023. This is the second survey of its type carried out in Scotland, following a survey of usage in 2015⁽¹⁾. An intervening survey of usage during 2019 was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. All other Scottish rodenticide surveys have focused on their use in agricultural settings. Surveys on arable and grassland farms are conducted every two and four years respectively^{(2, 3)}. This LA survey was conducted to help address the lack of data relating to rodenticide use in urban and non-agricultural settings in Scotland.

UK level LA rodenticide surveys have been published in the past by the Central Science Laboratory (CSL), now Fera Science Ltd. The last UK survey of LAs was conducted in 2001⁽⁴⁾. All LAs in Scotland have a duty to control rats and mice on their own land and properties, and the enforcement power to order other landowners or occupiers to do likewise if necessary. The level of pest control service provided by individual LAs varies. Some have an in-house team of pest controllers who provide both domestic and commercial control services, others contract out services to professional pest control companies. Some only provide a service to domestic properties, in some cases social housing only, but in other LAs owner-occupied properties may also be included.

An Accredited Official Statistics Publication for Scotland

These statistics are accredited official statistics. The Office for Statistics Regulation has independently reviewed and accredited these statistics as complying with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The Scottish Pesticide Usage reports have been accredited official statistics since October 2014.

Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

More information about Scottish Government statistics is available on the Scottish Government website.