Competence

The ability to demonstrate competence in shooting deer aims to ensure public safety, deer welfare and food safety. Focusing on competence also provides motivation for training, maintaining and developing core skills. Currently there are a number of systems which assess the competence of those shooting deer but there are gaps in terms of what and who these systems assess. These gaps should be addressed to build and maintain robust public confidence in the competence of the deer industry.

What do we mean by competence?

Key ideas include:

• Competence is about performance and outcomes;
• Competence is a combination of the necessary skills and knowledge as defined through standards;
• Competence is the responsibility of the individual – knowing their limits as well as their abilities. 
• Competence is the culling of deer in a manner which minimises negative welfare impacts and which takes into account the safety of the public and the food safety of the venison as an end product.
• Competence should involve continual professional development in recognition of it being a process and not an end point.

Reports on Competence:

The following reports are on the website. Please click here to download the reports;

C1.1.1: A report on the limitations and costs of current methods to assess competence
C2.1.1: A draft definition of competence
C3.1.1: A review of options used to assess competence in other countries
C3.1.2: A review of options, based on new and existing ideas, which could be used to assess competence in Scotland
C4.1.1: A review of systems used to monitor competence in other countries
C4.1.2: A review of systems, based on new and existing ideas, which could be used to monitor competence in Scotland

Where are we now?

Stakeholders at the seminar in November identified a number of emerging themes. These have been collated and summarised in a feedback note which is available from the Welfare and Competence main page. These emerging themes are being used, together with the consultant reports, to direct the next stage of project development. The purpose of disseminating and articulating these emerging themes is to give an indication of current thinking on these projects. 

Next Steps

We are planning to hold another seminar in November 2008 to build on the emerging themes from the seminar in November 2007 and to identify practical proposals to deliver the projects on the ground. We will upload further details on this seminar to the website in October 2008.

Further Information:
Should anyone experience any technical difficulties whilst downloading these reports please contact jessica.findlay@dcs.gov.uk