New report underlines the importance of shooting and conservation to the Scottish economy and countryside

Press Release

With the main political parties having fired the starter pistol on their general election campaigns, rural organisations have published the latest ‘Value of Shooting’ report which will set out in detail the benefits the shooting sector brings to the economy and the conservation of the countryside in Scotland.

The key findings will play an important role in shaping the debate around shooting in the run up to the general election and beyond.

Shooting is a key component of the rural economy and goes hand-in-hand with the conservation of the countryside, as well as bringing both mental and physical health benefits to participants and providing a healthy and sustainable food source.

The new Value of Shooting report was commissioned by 24 rural organisations and carried out by Cognisense, a market research and data analytics firm. The report will set out the following headline figures for Scotland:

• Shooting in Scotland is worth £340m (GVA) to the UK economy every year, and the equivalent of 5,600 jobs.
• £780m of wider economic activity is generated for the UK economy.
• Shooting providers and volunteers carry out £20m worth of conservation work in Scotland per annum.
• Approximately 68,000 individuals in Scotland are actively involved in shooting-related activities.

The following headline figures cover the UK economy as a whole:

• Shooting is worth £3.3bn (GVA) to the UK economy every year.
• The new report has taken a more comprehensive and detailed approach than previous reports, attaching a value to contribution in kind (CiK) and supply chain value, which shows that £9.3bn of wider economic activity is generated for the UK economy.
• 620,000 individuals are actively involved in shooting-related activities.
• Shooting providers and volunteers carry out £500m worth of conservation work, equivalent to 26,000 full-time jobs and 14m workdays each year.
• Habitat management and conservation are carried out on 7.6m hectares as a result of shooting.
• Three out of four people who take part in shooting said that it is important to them and their personal wellbeing, with most claiming shooting specifically contributes positively to their physical and mental health.
• Shooters spend £4.4bn on their UK-based supply chain each year.

BASC’s Scotland director Peter Clark said:

“Shooting and conservation is vital to Scotland’s economy, to the tune of £340 million GVA.

“Shooting has so many spin-off advantages too, such as the work that goes into important conservation projects.

“We must also remember shooting employs people in remote and rural areas, where there is no other viable alternative employment.

“From positive mental health benefits right through to habitat management, shooting in Scotland provides benefits in abundance”.

Ross Ewing, Director of Moorland at Scottish Land & Estates, said: "The research underlines the significant value of shooting and country sports for people, jobs and nature in rural Scotland.

"Scotland is a world-class destination for shooting and the work of estates, land managers and gamekeepers in sustaining those activities should be widely celebrated.

"Land managed for shooting is vital for addressing biodiversity loss and is also hugely important in combatting for climate change, particularly in the uplands through projects to restore peatland and create landscape-scale resilience to wildfire.

“Much of this activity – and the downstream benefits to hoteliers, retailers, garages and other businesses – would not be possible without the value that shooting brings to the economy. Our desire is to work in partnership with other stakeholders to deliver a sustained contribution long into the future.”

The report can be viewed at https://valueofshooting.co.uk/ 

ENDS

Partner organisations:

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) – Eat Wild (EW) – The British Shooting Sports Council (BSSC) The Countryside Alliance (CA) – The Country Land & Business Association (CLA) – The Game Farmers’ Association (GFA) – GunsOnPegs (GoP) The Gun Trade Association (GTA) – The Moorland Association (MA) – The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation (NGO) Scottish Association for Country Sports (SACS) – The Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group (SCSTG) – Scottish Land & Estates (SL&E) UK Practical Shooting Association (UKPSA)

Supporting organisations:

The Association of Professional Shooting Instructors (APSI) – The British Deer Society (BDS) – The Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA) The Fifty Calibre Shooting Association (FCSA) – The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) – The Historical Breechloading Smallarms Association (HBSA)

The National Rifle Association (NRA) – The National Small-bore Rifle Association (NSRA) – The Preparatory Schools' Rifle Association (PSRA)

The Vintage Arms Association (VAA)

About the survey:

This report presents the findings of independent research into the economic, environmental and social impact of shooting sports in the UK. It was commissioned by 24 organisations involved with shooting and the countryside and undertaken by Cognisense, a market research and data analytics firm.

This report is a follow-up to the 2014 survey, also titled The Value of Shooting, carried out by PACEC, which was commissioned to investigate the economic, environmental and social contribution of shooting sports to the UK.

The 2014 survey was itself a follow-up to Shooting Sports, the report on a survey produced in 2006 when PACEC was commissioned to investigate the economic and environmental effects of live quarry shooting. Not all the data gathered for the 2023 Value of Shooting report are directly comparable with the earlier studies, as different parameters and methodology were applied.

This new research focuses specifically on surveying those who participate in shooting activities, provide shooting for others, or are involved in the trade.

This report focuses on three main areas of interest:

• shooting’s economic and societal benefits;

• the benefit to the environment, rural management and conservation; and

• the benefit to participants’ wellbeing and health and the provision and promotion of game as food.

During the survey period, in the latter half of 2022, a total of 12,084 questionnaires were completed by 11,227 participants (93 per cent of the total), 703 providers of shooting opportunities (6 per cent of the total) and 154 traders (c. 1 per cent of the total).

The scale of the research means its findings can be regarded as statistically robust. The vast majority of respondents are shotgun or firearm licence holders, of which there are around 650,000 in the UK, or 1 per cent of the total population, according to the Home Office, Police Scotland and Police Service for Northern Ireland.

This figure does not include the significant numbers of individuals who support shooting (such as beaters, pickers-up, drivers, shooting range officials etc.) but do not hold any firearm, shotgun or air rifle certificates. Conversely, there will be some certificate holders who do not actively participate in shooting for various reasons. On average, then, the figure is likely to closely represent the number of people actively involved in shooting in the UK.

The report also includes qualitative data reflecting participants’ perception of the benefits shooting-related activities bring to their physical and mental health and overall sense of well-being.