Chamber and committees

That would be helpful.

I have one final minor question, which is on work across the UK. Is the work on the common frameworks still going on and does it have any relation to the bill? I am thinking about how the current Tory Government is operating, because it is a whole set of different ministers.

Seriously, what I was thinking is that it goes to the issue of stakeholders. We need to have transparency and to be able to highlight things on the web in the same way as you do, so that we are up to date. It is partly about scrutiny by us, but it is as much about other parliamentary committees and stakeholders.

I have a quick supplementary question as a result of the convener’s question. Is it possible to get an update on the work that the Scottish Government has done? You last gave us evidence a few weeks ago. It would be quite helpful to get a sense of the progress that you are making or the issues that you are identifying.

It is very rare that I agree with the cabinet secretary on a huge number of issues. The bill is unprecedented; it feels dangerous as well as ill thought out. The evidence that we have heard, which Jenni Minto has already mentioned, was on public health, food safety, animal safety, business, the environment and workers’ rights. Another issue that was striking is the legal impact, which will lead to massive uncertainty. It cuts right across everything. You have made points about devolution and the Sewel convention that I very much agree with. I was struck by the evidence that we had from the head of the Northern Ireland civil service, who said that there was potential for an untenable legislative burden as well as a diversion of resources to ensure a functioning statute book. This Tory Government is acting without any thought as to the range of dangerous impacts of the bill.

My question follows up on questions that my colleagues have asked. Have you or other Scottish Government ministers had parallel discussions with UK Government ministers? You have already mentioned DEFRA, which is clearly a massive issue for us. There is also the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which will be important in terms of regulations and businesses in the future.

One of the things that I found disturbing in what we have heard is that there is evidence that the impact is already happening. It is not a theoretical issue about what happens next December. Part of the evidence that we heard was about how local government regulates safety and the sense that some businesses are already shifting because of the uncertainty.

There is the issue of what will happen in the future. How do you build that piece of work in the Scottish Government, which will be a huge legislative and civil service burden, and manage the risk assessment to continue to highlight the dangers of the bill and get in place measures for the dangerous worst-case scenario that you have talked about? It could happen this time next year. Can I take you to the January issue? Do you think that the UK civil service will identify all these areas of legislation by January?

We would need a weekly update, but what I was thinking—

We have heard that the Soil Association has concerns, too. David, can you say a bit more about the impact of losing some of the regulatory or legal environment on water quality and pesticides?

I want to follow up on that point. RSPB Scotland made a point about uncertainty in its evidence, and about the fact that although ministers have given reassurances about the devolution settlement in various pieces of UK legislation, there is the chilling effect that you just talked about.

How can we have certainty? I will go to Isobel Mercer first. Reassurances have been given in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill and in the Environment Act 2021. However, if those are just words, what will be the legal impact, given the uncertainty and bodies not being prepared to push the envelope because they are worried about legal status?

But if all that is going to be implemented on the ground, what will be the reality check?

Professor Reid, do you want to come in on that point? Your evidence about the sheer scale of the legislation on the environment alone is really quite powerful.

We have been told that the dashboard is not up to date. Do you have any comment on that from a legal perspective?