Shooting value

With respect to the evidence base for the economic and social roles played by shooting in Scotland I would like to direct Graham McLeod (Letters, 5 January) to The Value of Shooting (2014) report.

This shows that shooting and stalking are worth £200 million to the Scottish economy each year and support the equivalent of 8,800 full-time jobs.

This obviously includes part-time seasonal workers like beaters and pickers-up who only work through the shooting season, as well as gamekeepers, stalkers and others supported through the entire supply chain.

The report is easily accessed at basc.org.uk/the-value-of-shooting and the “independent researchers” were the Cambridge-based Public and Corporate Economic Consultants (PACEC) who have worked for the Department of Trade and Industry, Defra, HM Treasury, the Rural Development Commission and the National Audit Office, among others.

The report was commissioned by BASC and 16 other organisations involved with shooting and the countryside.

I hope this provides sufficient clarification.

Nicolle Hamilton

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation

Trochry, Dunkeld