Yesterday Colin Beattie MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh spoke in a debate where he had an opportunity to highlight the increasing problem of dog attacks in his constituency. Deeply alarmed by the number of constituents who have come to him after experiencing these traumatising attacks, Mr. Beattie called for post-legislative scrutiny of the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 and simplification of the reporting system regarding dog attacks, as the current system has contributed to increased confusion and underreporting.
According to the Communication Workers Union, over 220 postal workers in Scotland have been attacked and injured by dogs in the past year. In 2016, the number of people receiving treatment for dog bites in Scotland rose to 2027—nearly 100 more cases than from the previous year. Commenting, Mr. Beattie said, “I understand the vast majority of dog owners are responsible and make sure their pets are well-cared-for and trained, but we must acknowledge that a small number of owners are causing serious issues in our communities and are putting the public at great risk. That cannot be allowed to continue.” Mr. Beattie intends to take this issue further by continuing to discuss with fellow MSPs and involve other stakeholders in deciding the best course of action to reduce these attacks and promote better dog ownership practices. Colin’s full speech can be found here Colin Beattie MSP was speaking on a debate regarding motion S5M-10404 in the name of Alex Neil MSP, noted below: That the Parliament expresses its concern at figures obtained by a recent Clyde News investigation, which suggest that, between January and June 2017, 205 children were taken to A&E due to dog bites; understands that the number of people receiving treatment for such bites in Scotland has risen from 1,939 in 2015 to 2,027 in 2016 and that, in the first six months of 2017, 1,057 children and adults in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area went to hospital; considers these figures to be very worrying, and notes calls for a post-legislative review of the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010, including the degree to which the Act is being effectively enforced by local authorities.
2 Comments
30/5/2018 03:55:24 pm
I can't fully comprehend what they meant here. All I can say is if any is going to raise an issue, it must be presented very clearly. They should have enough evidence and reason to put a matter on discussion. If they don't have this, then it will just be a waste of time and resources which they should be using elsewhere instead. It's sad that sometimes there are people who are just after publicity and using confusion to hide or promote something else.
Reply
9/6/2018 03:08:59 pm
Being a politician may seem easy from the looks of it. You sit on a nice office and talk to a lot of people everyday. You have nothing to do with operations because you did not get elected because of how much you know, but rather how innocent your image is. These are just a few of the myths we knew about how to be in public office. I am not sure where people get that idea that running a place did not require a lot of brains. The politicians must be doing a great job pretending it's all very easy.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Parliamentary WorkArchives
February 2025
Links |