Chamber and committees

Cabinet secretary, you pointed to a couple of learning projects in Mull and the Western Isles. I know that the marine directorate is very busy with lots of things, and it is challenging for the committee to understand all the work and all the bits of the puzzle. We come across little bits of it when we consider an SSI or when a piece of work comes to the committee. In order for us to contribute well to the scrutiny of your work, it would be good to understand some of the elements that you are working on that contribute to the fuller picture. I would appreciate some more information on those initiatives and on what you are seeking to get from them.

The Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust, otherwise known as SIFT, in its response to the 2024-25 spawning closure consultation, said:

“There is a measurable economic cost of prohibiting creeling within the closed area, without a concomitantly measurable benefit to the resident cod stocks.”

That is based on evidence that it has. If including creeling in the closure makes very little difference to cod stocks, why not allow creeling to support the economic benefit while focusing management measures where they will make a big difference, such as minimising bycatch from nephrops trawling?

Item 2 is a round-table evidence-taking session on the “Housing to 2040” strategy. We are joined by Chris Birt, associate director for Scotland of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation; Dr Caroline Brown, director for Scotland, Ireland and English regions at the Royal Town Planning Institute; Stephen Connor, development manager at the Tenants Information Service; Emma Jackson, social justice strategic lead at Citizens Advice Scotland; Eilidh Keay, who represents Living Rent; Professor Ken Gibb, director of the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence, based at the University of Glasgow; Gordon MacRae, assistant director for communications and advocacy at Shelter Scotland; David Melhuish, directorof the Scottish Property Federation; Ronnie Macrae, chief executive officer of the Communites Housing Trust; Rhiannon Sims, senior policy officer at Crisis; and Chris Stewart, president of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.

I warmly welcome our witnesses to the meeting. To begin our conversation, I invite everyone to briefly introduce themselves. I am the convener of the committee and an MSP for the Highlands and Islands.

That was very constructive and helpful.

Thanks.

I just want to sort out a couple of things, process-wise. We might have started to touch on some questions that colleagues want to ask, so I am going to bring in Marie McNair. However, I already have a stack of people who want to come in—and I have just realised that Caroline Brown has not yet had a chance to speak. It would be great to hear from her from the planning side on this topic of the balance between short and long-term approaches, so I will bring her in now and then bring in Marie McNair. I will then go to David Melhuish, Chris Birt and Emma Jackson.

I am just trying to keep the conversation going. It is a bit like lasagne; every so often, I will add in another question, and witnesses can choose to pick up on that or go back to something else that they want to get on the record.

Thanks very much. It is always very helpful when somebody comes in with an idea—something that can bring about a chain of moves.

I have to ask you to wind up, please.

Thanks very much for that. Do you want to come in with your next question, Willie?

So, the barrier is the up-front costs that are involved in getting such sites developed to a point at which they can be built on.

That was a very good bit of work—I caught the tail end of it.

After we have heard from Chris Birt, we will go back to Miles Briggs’s question about the housing bill.