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Scottish Natural Heritage has held discussions with the Scottish SPCA on the examination of animals shot under licence and understands that the Scottish SPCA is willing to assist in post-mortem examination of beavers killed under licence. Scottish Natural Heritage is in discussions on a protocol for this process.

Scottish Natural Heritage is not aware of any beavers that have been killed without a licence.

Police Scotland investigations are ongoing to ascertain if there have been breaches of the conditions of two licences that permit lethal control.

The Beaver Management Framework is intended to be adaptive and will be subject to ongoing review with input from the Scottish Beaver Forum.

a) We expect the forum to hold further discussion of the licensing figures and to consider how the Forum membership can collectively seek to balance the needs of land managers and reduce the ongoing need for lethal control.

b) (i) Scottish Natural Heritage intends to consider opportunities for conservation translocations of beavers within existing catchments from high to low conflict areas to improve the resilience of existing populations.

(ii) In conjunction with the Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage will also consider other alternative measures as part of a wider beaver national strategy.

Scottish Natural Heritage issued 21 beaver lethal control licences in 2019 without a visit being undertaken by them or their agents.

The licensing process requires that the licensing tests are examined in each case;

i. That action is necessary to prevent serious damage to agriculture

ii. That there is no other satisfactory solution

iii. That licensed actions will not be detrimental to the conservation status of beavers

Scottish Natural Heritage uses a combination of information and photographic evidence provided by the land managers, details of site topography and the knowledge of issues on neighbouring properties which has been built up over time by staff and contractors, combined with the use of site visits where appropriate to inform the assessment of these criteria.

Together with Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Government will consider opportunities for conservation translocations of beavers from high to low conflict areas within existing catchments to improve the resilience of existing populations. We will also consider alternative measures as part of a wider beaver national strategy.

Scottish Natural Heritage has issued 42 licences authorising the killing of beavers under the Beaver Management Framework since 1 January 2019.

Details of beaver licences issued by Scottish Natural Heritage in 2019 are provided in the Scottish Natural Heritage Beaver Licensing Summary report which was published on 28 May 2020 and is available on their website at .

15 beavers were trapped and translocated under licence (between 1st May and 31st December 2019). Scottish Natural Heritage plans to work with licence holders to see what more can be done to make this option practicable as an alternative to lethal control.

Further details of the beaver translocations carried out in 2019 are provided in the Scottish Natural Heritage Beaver Licensing Summary report which was published on 28 May 2020 and is available on their website at .

Scottish Natural Heritage licences which permit the use of lethal control specify as a condition that ‘Lethal control or removal of mature dams (over 2 weeks old) during the Kit Dependency Period (1 April to 16 August) must only be carried out in exceptional circumstances i.e where there is an imminent threat of serious damage or to public health or to a public interest’.

The Scottish Natural Heritage licensing team must also be notified within 7 days of the action being undertaken.

Scottish Natural Heritage has not carried out spot checks on beaver licence compliance, but continues to work with those in receipt of licences. Compliance checks are made as part of checking licence returns.

Those carrying out lethal control are required to be accredited to ensure best practice is followed and that accredited controllers are familiar with beaver ecology. Scottish Natural Heritage ran a series of training events to ensure that practitioners have the correct skills and knowledge to undertake any lethal control humanely.

There are not and have not been any plans to ration medical equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Every effort is being made to ensure that the capability and capacity needed are quickly put in place and to date that has been achieved.

The Chief Medical Officer published COVID-19 Clinical Advice on 3 April, which supported health and care professionals with clinical decision making during this pandemic. This guidance is currently being updated to make it clear that the Clinical Frailty Score (CFS) should be used as part of a general assessment that is recorded clearly. Clinicians should have awareness of its limitations, particularly in younger adults (those below 65 years of age) and those with stable long-term disabilities (for example, cerebral palsy, learning disabilities or autism). For these groups, alternative person-centred assessments may be more appropriate.

This guidance is subject to an Equalities Impact Assessment which started at the end of April. The Scottish Consortium for Learning Disabilities has agreed to take part in the EQIA.