Chamber and committees

Thank you. You mentioned that your portfolio does not contain everything that is happening in Government support for the islands, and you have alluded to trying to work across traditional barriers or silos in Government. I think that everyone acknowledges that plenty of money is going in, but there is a need to ensure that we overcome what has perhaps happened at a local level in the past, with houses being built in an area where a school has just been closed, or houses not being built in an area where a school is in danger of closing. We have had all those interconnected problems.

What can be done in Government, not just nationally but locally, to overcome those silos and ensure that people work together more closely in order to get past such problems, which affect the supply of labour?

Cabinet secretary, you have indicated the market scenario that you are seeking to regulate. Are you likely to amend legislation on a more permanent basis in the future?

I have a couple of different questions: one is about the wider situation and the other is a more practical one. You have touched on where we are and where you think that the bill is going. You have indicated that wiser counsels do not seem to have prevailed. We have taken evidence from lots of people and, unusually for this committee, they have all been unified in being pretty mystified about the motivations behind the bill. Has the UK Government explained to you the motivations for it?

Given what you have just described, with regard to how you plan to cope with the bill and its impact on Scotland or how you plan future legislation in Scotland, does this episode say something about the Sewel convention? Is it a constitutional fiction?

On the back of that question, you have mentioned the impact that this legislation will have on consumer and environmental protection and that the Scottish Government would need to act. Have you made an assessment from the Government end of the sheer quantity of civil service time that might be necessary in attempting to pick up the pieces?

I will come in briefly. Mr Mountain raised a point about the importance of eradicating mink in many parts of Scotland, and he cited the Hebrides. I merely want to confirm what Jenni Minto said, which is that I have visited those projects and they do not use dogs; as has been pointed out, they use satellite-positioned live traps.

My question is mainly for those of you who work in devolved areas, but others should feel free to join in. A couple of you have touched on how the bill would impact on the wider nature of devolution and how, in turn, that would impact on you. A couple of references have been made—by Colin Reid and David Bowles, I think—to how the bill might relate to other pieces of legislation such as the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 and the declining meaning of the Sewel convention, which the committee has looked at. I am keen to open up a discussion about the wider impact on the devolution settlement, if such a thing now exists.

I do not want to minimise the extent of the outbreak, given its impact, not least on wild birds, but can you say a wee bit more about that? Can you also say more about the comparison between—and the geographic concentration of—the outbreaks in Scotland and England?

I have no idea, but we might both be about to make the same point, for all I know.

You have run through a series of scenarios in your evidence, minister, and gone through them one by one. Some of them are hypothetical, as you have said.

We have had evidence from some stakeholders that referred to the potential difficulties that the police have indicated that they might face in distinguishing between some of those scenarios. In weighing up how the bill was put together, did you consider the option of going in the other direction? This is not a position that I am advocating, I hasten to add, but did you consider having the limit simply set at two dogs per shoot?

We all accept that avian flu does not stop at political borders, but you are making persuasive arguments as to why the situation at the moment appears to be a bit different in Scotland than it is in the rest of the UK—or in England, anyway. How are you keeping in touch with colleagues in England to ensure that you have an advance picture of what might come to Scotland?