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As I have said, movements are very infrequent and involve very small quantities that come directly into Scotland from the Republic of Ireland. I do not know whether officials have the exact numbers.

We can already do that in Scotland through secondary legislation. We continue to look at and consider the issue. The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission has been doing work on the keeping of exotic pets, which shows that, as I have said, we already have the power to look at and control that. I should say that, in the legislation at the moment, it is not straightforward that it would be a complete ban on the keeping of primates, and I think that what the UK Government is looking to introduce through this legislation are powers that already exist in Scotland to allow us to give effect to that.

My officials might want to add to that.

Part 3 requires that regulations are subject to the affirmative procedure. If we make those regulations in Scotland, there will be an opportunity for scrutiny by the committee. If we also give consent for the secretary of state to legislate on our behalf, we will go through the usual processes for that. We intend to work with the committee and to keep you informed to ensure that scrutiny can take place.

The officials might have further information about how we arrived at those numbers.

There will always remain a concern. Even if we implement the restrictions across GB on imports of dogs, cats and ferrets—and I hope that doing so will significantly impact the illegal trade that currently takes place—we have to be cognisant that criminal enterprises and organisations tend to be behind many of those movements, and they will be looking for any avenue to get access. There will always be the threat that there could be exports or movements of animals into Northern Ireland from the EU that would then have access to Scotland. We will just have to pay close attention to that. I hope that, with all the measures that are proposed in the bill, the powers that we are given and the regulations that will come in future will have a significant impact on that trade. However, we will have to keep a close watch on that element.

Thank you for having me here to speak about the regulations. The draft instrument would amend retained European Commission regulation 589/2008 on the marketing standards for eggs with regard to checks done on imported class A eggs. At the moment, checks for class A egg marketing standards take place at the place of destination, such as egg packing centres and wholesale premises. However, for eggs imported from third countries, the retained EU regulation requires that the checks are carried out at the time of customs clearance. Given that the UK has left the EU, a greater number of checks would need to be made at the border. Therefore, the instrument would amend the regulations to enable marketing standards checks to continue to be undertaken on imported class A eggs at the place of destination, rather than at customs. The checks are and would continue to be undertaken by suitably qualified egg marketing inspectors prior to release for retail sale or mass catering.

The instrument would also enable checks on imported class A eggs to take place where resources are already established and where there is already expertise. We believe that that approach would be more efficient and practical. In reality, there are currently no imports of eggs directly into Scotland from the EU or elsewhere, other than infrequent and small quantities from the Republic of Ireland, although some eggs arrive in Scotland from the EU via English ports. For that reason, the UK and Welsh Governments are taking forward corresponding amendments for their jurisdictions.

I hope that those remarks are helpful in setting out the rationale for the draft instrument. Of course, I am happy to take any questions that committee members might have.

It gives us the power to introduce regulations that will help to prevent the importing of dogs with mutilations that, at the moment, are illegal right across the UK.

The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission has done work on that, too. The regulations will have a significant impact when they are introduced along with some of the measures that I have mentioned such as the minimum age at which animals can be imported, which were the subject of a recent consultation that closed in October, the results of which we are currently analysing. I hope that they will stop the importation of dogs with such mutilations.

Obviously, a consultation was undertaken when we were introducing the licensing regulations, but some of the issues that we are looking to address today came to light only when we were developing the guidance for local authorities and working with our animal welfare stakeholders. We have been working closely with them through this process and in developing that guidance. That is why we are bringing the amending regulations forward today to address those issues. Although there was no formal consultation on the amending regulations, we are in close engagement all the time so that we can identify such issues and address them.

Again, that is something that we would monitor closely, but I would say that the licensing regulations that we introduced and which came into force on 1 September modernised the whole licensing system. They made it more robust, so I think that we have gone a long way in trying to tackle some of the issues that have been experienced, but of course this is something that we will continue to monitor. As I said in previous responses, we are continually in close engagement with animal welfare stakeholders, so, if other issues emerge that we need to consider, we will, of course, look to do that.

As I have said, we have proposed these amendments as a result of the engagement that we have had with animal welfare stakeholders in developing the detailed guidance for local authorities. We work closely with the likes of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. We have worked with it in developing training and a toolkit that can be used. We will, of course, monitor this closely. We are in regular engagement with the SSPCA, Cats Protection and other animal welfare charities and organisations, so, of course, through that regular engagement, we will pick up on any issues that there are. We also have the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, which deals with particular issues. I just want to assure members and the committee that we are in close contact with all our stakeholders in the hope that we can pick up any early issues that emerge through this process. The licensing regulations that we introduced and the amendments that we are proposing today have been welcomed by those stakeholders.