Question reference: S5W-29823
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
- Date lodged: 10 June 2020
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Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 June 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the use of lead ammunition to be entirely phased out on (a) public and (b) private land.
Answer
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) currently require all contractors to use non-lead ammunition for goose management when shooting over Ramsar sites, including land beyond that required by the Environmental Protection (Restrictions on Use of Lead Shot) (Scotland) Regulation 2004, and expect that by 2021 all shotgun ammunition purchased by SNH for use in goose management schemes will be non-lead based.
Where SNH issue licenses to shoot deer on public land the use of non-lead ammunition will be required to shoot all but roe deer by 2021. For roe deer, non-lead alternatives will be required by 2024.
In terms of deer shot by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) staff or Deer Culling contractors, it is expected that lead ammunition will be phased out by the end of 2022. A small proportion (approx. 9%) of the deer shot on land managed by FLS is carried out under other arrangements such as leasing and in these circumstances non-lead ammunition will be required by 2023.
The Scottish Government has welcomed a statement from UK field sports bodies on the phasing out of lead shot alongside recommendations made by the independent Deer Working Group and the Grouse Moor Management Review Group. We will publish our formal response to both reports in due course.