Chamber and committees

Absolutely. We are just getting going, and, if more people want to be involved, the door is open. Everybody’s lived experience and, as you have said, smaller groups in communities all help, because the issue affects everybody across Scotland. That would be absolutely essential.

Thank you, convener. Good morning to you and the committee members.

The cross-party group on poverty aims to act as a forum for exploring the drivers of and solutions to poverty in Scotland. It would act to connect MSPs with organisations that are working to tackle poverty, as well with people who are living on low incomes across Scotland, in order to better inform anti-poverty policy making and contribute to the ending of poverty in Scotland, which I think everybody in the Parliament wants to see.

The group intends to explore the drivers of poverty and the different experiences of it across Scotland, covering issues such as stigma, rurality, race and disability as well as looking at the particular risk of poverty that is experienced by certain groups such as lone parents. We are keen to explore how we can gain greater consensus on the need to tackle poverty across political parties and Scottish society at large. Given that more than a million people in Scotland live in the grip of poverty, we believe that the group is hugely necessary and can make a real contribution towards on-going efforts to prevent and reduce poverty in Scotland’s communities.

Already, we have been hugely encouraged by the enormous interest that we have seen in the group’s work. Both the inaugural meeting and a subsequent informal meeting of the group attracted a large and diverse group of organisations and individuals. Many of those organisations are smaller, community-based organisations, which often struggle to have their voices heard in policy-making processes or in the Parliament, and we hope that the group will act as a forum for them to help to shape and influence discussions around poverty in Scotland.

Subject to the committee’s decision, the group’s convener will be Neil Gray and the deputy conveners will be Pam Duncan-Glancy, Jeremy Balfour and me. The secretariat for the group will be provided by the Poverty Alliance, Scotland’s national anti-poverty network. We believe that it is the first-ever cross-party group on poverty, and we consider that it is in the public interest that MSPs of all parties, alongside expert stakeholders, work together to tackle poverty in Scotland.

Thank you, convener.

I am trying to get at whether HIE has the same as it had last year, whereas other enterprise agencies have had an increase. I am trying to establish what the difference is between HIE and the other agencies.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. You will not be surprised to hear that my questions are on islands issues.

Looking at the budget for Highlands and Islands Enterprise, it seems as though there has been a reduction for HIE where the South of Scotland Enterprise Agency and Scottish Enterprise have both had an increase. I think that we can all agree that business development is very important in supporting rural and island areas. Can you explain the reduction in HIE’s budget, please?

Is the spending that is available to businesses the same as it has been in previous years?

Thank you.

My second question is about the islands bond. Cabinet secretary, I note from the SPICe papers that £300,000 is being allocated for islands bonds in 2022-23, which could potentially benefit six households if they get £50,000 each. Do you think that that is sufficient to mitigate island depopulation? I give you the example of a constituent who has been looking to build a modest house on one of the outer islands. Given the high cost of getting materials to Shetland and onwards to the outer islands, it will cost them £350,000 to build their house, but it might be valued at only around £160,000. How will the island bond help someone in that situation?

My question is about the import and export of chilled meat products. What are the long-term plans for those, and do you expect the derogation to be rolled over?

I thank Professor Helm for this morning’s fascinating and informative session. I have two questions that are slightly different, but I will ask them in the hope that he has time to respond.

We have talked about competing needs and carbon sequestration and offset. How can the circle be squared regarding natural capital and renewable energy—for example, in relation to building wind farms on peatland, which may or may not be degraded?

Will you also say a bit more about fiscal measures such as taxes and levies that can be used to respond to the climate emergency?

I will ask Ian Dickie to respond first to my question but if other panel members want to come in, that would be helpful. Earlier, Professor Helm talked about the polluter pays principle and having a carbon price. How could fiscal measures such as taxes or levies be used in responding to the nature and climate emergency and as drivers for changing behaviour? Also, how could taxes and levies be used in the rural and marine economies?