AN SNP backbencher has challenged the Scottish Government to take “real action” to tackle the number of dog attacks.
Colin Beattie pressed Community Safety Minister Ash Denham on the issue after the number of cases where people attend A&E after being attacked by a dog increased from 6483 in 2018 to 6992 the following year.
Denham said she has some concerns about the figures, suggesting the possibility of “some double counting”.
But she conceded the Scottish Government does not currently have any target in place to reduce the number of attacks by a specific date.
MSPs on Holyrood’s Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee questioned Denham as it considered the impact that the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 has had.
Referring to the rise in the number of hospital attendances, Beattie said: “However you look at it, 7000 people had to attend A&E to seek treatment following a dog attack, and that is completely unacceptable.
“If this was drunken drivers mowing down 7000 people on the streets, then I think there would be a bit more than a working group put together. It would be a crisis and it is a crisis. The impact on the National Health Service [and] the reconstructive surgery that has to be done to children who are the prime recipients of these attacks.”
Beattie, who represents Midlothian North and Musselburgh, told the committee some of his constituents have suffered life-changing injuries as a result of dog attacks. He asked the minister when “real action” will be taken to tackle the problem.
Denham insisted it is “completely not the case” that all ministers have done is set up a working group, adding that progress has been made on all but one of the recommendations MSPs had made in an earlier report on the issue.
Denham continued: “I got extra staff resource put on to the team that is dealing with this, we have updated the guidance, we have updated protocol as well. We have set up the working group, which I thought was a good way to get joint working, that collaborative approach.”
She told the committee: “That is a substantial amount of work that is being taken forward on this issue.
“But I do agree with the member that there is more to be done and I think we will all be very pleased when we can see the numbers presenting start to decrease.”
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