The Scottish Government has scheduled a Ministerial Statement on the Independent Review on Grouse Moor Management (the Werritty Report) during Portfolio Questions in the Scottish Parliament tomorrow afternoon. Clearly at this stage there is no detail of what will be said but we understand that the statement will be announcing plans to develop a licensing system for driven grouse estates in Scotland.

This Ministerial Statement comes on the back of a substantial rise in wildlife crime during ‘lockdown’, an ongoing campaign by groups and individuals too numerous to mention and some very hard questions by local Scottish National Party (SNP) branches in the run up to their annual conference. It also comes just ahead of an interesting court case. We look forward to hearing what exactly the Ministerial Statement says.