Scottish Animal Welfare Commission: future attendance at parliamentary committee meetings - response from Cabinet secretary

14 July 2022

Dear Cathy,

Thank you for your letter dated 13 July 2022 regarding SAWC’s representation at recent parliamentary committee meetings and evidence gathering sessions.

I think that these parliamentary occasions represent key opportunities for SAWC members to express their invaluable views on animal welfare issues. I am therefore very happy to approve SAWC accepting future parliamentary invitations of this sort. 

It was a pleasure talking with you about the work of SAWC at the BVA Scottish Dinner in May, and I’d like to again extend my sincere thanks for all the hard work SAWC members have undertaken since the establishment of the Commission in 2020. 

Thank you for your invitation to attend the next SAWC plenary meeting on 29 September. I would very much like to attend this meeting, and I will ask my private secretary to check my diary and respond to the SAWC Secretariat in due course.

In the meantime, I look forward to continuing to work with you and the members of SAWC to improve the welfare of wild and companion animals in Scotland.

Yours sincerely,

Mairi Gougeon