RURAL ECONOMY AND CONNECTIVITY COMMITTEE CALL FOR EVIDENCE ON THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE RURAL ECONOMY AND CONNECTIVITY IN SCOTLAND SUBMISSION FROM SCOTLAND’S REGIONAL MOORLAND GROUPS Thank you for this opportunity to provide written evidence. This evidence covers the areas of land management, fisheries and food and drink, to varying extents. In the month of April and into May, Scotland’s 7 regional moorland groups organised a confidential short-life survey to gauge the economic impacts of Covid-19 on the country sports sector. The regions looked at were Angus Glens, Grampian, Tomatin and Inverness-shire, Loch Ness-side, Tayside and Southern Uplands (communities below the Lammermuir and Moorfoot hills). The email survey asked respondents for details of income already lost for 2020 due to the pandemic ie: lack of bookings from visitors or cancelled/curtailed shooting programmes. It also asked what the projected losses would be on each business (based on previous years’ accounts) should it not be possible to have visitors coming to Scotland’s remote glens and waters to shoot and fish this year. Finally, respondents were also asked whether they had made staff redundant or used the UK Govt’s furlough scheme. In total 32 estates/businesses who would normally provide shooting, deer stalking or fishing responded to the survey. The respondents comprised varying sizes of businesses and covered a range of commercial aspirations. A regional breakdown of respondents is also given below (Constituency Projected losses- country sports sector). Of the respondents, the greater majority cited driven grouse shooting as an element of their business model but returns were received for low ground shoots (pheasants and partridge), red and roe deer stalking/management businesses and a smaller number for fishing. Some respondents also provided returns on the potential loss of visitor accommodation income and in the sale of venison and game foods to the game dealer market. The headlines are as follows: • Across all respondents, the accumulated (actual and projected) loss was £8,564,767. • This represented an average, per business, loss of £267,649. • Across all 32 respondents, there were no redundancies. • Across all 32 respondents, only 3 gamekeepers had been furloughed (1 on a mixed estate and 2 on a low ground pheasant/partidge shooting estate). • Across all respondents, businesses said they had continued to, or intended to, continue spending on trades/businesses in their local area. • The loss of a driven grouse shooting season would have disproportionate impacts in places such as Angus and the Southern Uplands, particularly, but would impact the economy of all the surveyed regions. In relation to the call for evidence, the survey showed a number of insights, despite great uncertainty within the sector. Firstly, it should be noted that country sports businesses have been excluded from the main business support mechanisms. While there has been sector dialogue with Scottish Government, which has been welcome and continues, financial support remains a sticking point. Small operators, for example, have struggled to access any funding or have found the process highly taxing and, like many tourism businesses, those operators (in the absence of booking income) are likely only to be able to survive through accumulating debt. Some may fold. One of the unresolved issues is why, when sporting rates were reintroduced by Scottish Government in order to bring shoots and deer forests ‘back into line with other businesses’, that shoots and deer forests were then made exempt from the initial £10 000 and £25 000 grants applicable to those other businesses in the same ratings categories. Other lessons are that, despite a lack of certainty over whether these businesses will receive trading income this year, they have continued to maintain employment. Similarly, the furlough scheme has only been used for 3 individuals. In the face of potential high losses, therefore, the sector has a very limited draw on the tax payer. This shows a level of resilience when it comes to maintaining jobs in remote rural places which are disproportionately fragile, economically. The importance of this can be seen when looking at other land uses such as charity managed land and land managed for conservation. These uses of land, through no fault of their own, have required the furlough scheme to retain staff, and have shown a far heavier reliance on public funds to survive the crisis. It is not yet certain whether visitors will be able to come to participate this year. This depends on Scottish Government advice and community safety. What is certain, therefore, is that businesses are not receiving advanced bookings and some programmes, particularly in pheasant and partridge shooting, have already been cancelled completely or reduced significantly. Finally, with estates planning to continue investing in local trade in the face of losses, the survey suggests that country sports - if supported by Scottish Government- could play an important role in economic recovery in dispersed, small rural communities, where other opportunities can often be limited by remoteness, lack of infrastructure, high costs and poor connectivity. CONSTITUENCY PROJECTED LOSSES- COUNTRY SPORTS SECTOR • Angus Glens: 7 respondent estates. Total potential loss £3,001,498. Total average potential loss, per holding = £428,785. The biggest concern expressed was the potential loss of driven grouse shooting which would remove £2,071,750 across the respondents. There were also signifiant losses in pheasant shoots, deer stalking and tourist accommodation. Only 1 gamekeeper has been furloughed across the respondents. • Grampian: 5 respondent estates. Total potential loss £1,002,304. Total average potential loss, per holding = £167,050. The loss of sporting visitors will impact tourism in this area, with also loss of seasonal shoot wages for local beating staff. No sporting staff furloughed across the respondents but a maintenance worker had been furloughed on one holding. • Speyside: 4 respondent estates. Total potential loss £1,002,545. Total average potential loss, per holding = £250,636. Grouse shooting losses, principally, followed by deer and low ground shooting are the areas which will potentially hit, alongside sporting tourism within the wider community. No sporting staff furloughed across the respondents. • Tayside: 5 respondent estates. Total potential loss £730,551. Total average potential loss, per holding = £146,110. Biggest losses would be in grouse shooting but high potential loss to local accommodation providers, if shoots were cancelled. Other downstream spending being maintained. Two sporting staff furloughed in low ground shooting across the respondents. • Southern Uplands: 7 respondent estates. Total potential loss £2,447,469. Total average potential loss, per holding = £349,638. Biggest potential losses in driven grouse shooting (£1,775,600) but also large losses in pheasant shooting and accommodation. One estate reported potential fishing losses of up to £138,000. No sporting staff furloughed across the respondents. • Tomatin: 2 respondent estates. Total potential loss = £201,400. Total average potential loss, per holding = £100,700. No sporting staff furloughed across the respondents. • Loch Ness-side: 2 respondent estates. Total potential loss = £179,000. Total average potential loss, per holding = £89,500. No sporting staff furloughed across the respondents. Lianne MacLennan, Co-Ordinator, Scotland’s Regional Moorland Groups (who organised the survey). .