Chamber and committees

Thank you. I am now going to open the meeting up to questions from members. Members might direct questions to specific people, but if anyone wants to come in on a topic, they should indicate as much and we will try to include everybody.

I invite Ms Boyack to ask her questions first.

Mr Austin wants to come in.

I thank all our witnesses for attending and for their written submissions. It has been very important to have deliberations on this matter, and I wish you all well with the rest of the day.

On that note, we will move into private session.

I would like to ask a possibly final question—I never want to say “final question” at this committee, because it quite often is not.

We have talked a lot about the resource issues in relation to Government capacity and the civil service being distracted. However, have any of you assessed the impact on your organisations in terms of how much cost and time has had to be diverted to work on REUL, particularly given that many of the organisations that you represent are charitable?

Our next item is an evidence session on a legislative consent memorandum for the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill. We are joined by Julie Hesketh-Laird, deputy chief executive and director of strategy and corporate affairs, Food Standards Scotland; Donna Fordyce, chief executive, Seafood Scotland; Elspeth Macdonald, chief executive, Scottish Fishermen’s Federation; Jonnie Hall, director of policy, NFU Scotland; Sarah Millar, chief executive, Quality Meat Scotland; Ian Muirhead, policy manager, Agricultural Industries Confederation Scotland; and Dr Gareth Hateley, junior vice-president, Scottish branch, British Veterinary Association. A warm welcome to all of you.

We will have a round-table meeting this morning, which we hope will enable some free-flowing discussion. We have roughly an hour and a half with three themes, so we are hoping to stick to the themes for half an hour or so each.

Our first theme is the regulatory environment. Could the witnesses give an overview of the impact assessment of the bill on the regulatory environment in which they operate, including the potential impact on trade and the impact on relevant standards and protections in devolved areas? That is a brief starter for everyone and I will go around the room in turn. Ms Hesketh-Laird, could you go first?

Thank you very much. I will open to questions from the committee. If you want to come in and comment, please try to catch my eye or the clerk’s eye and we will try to ensure that everybody gets an opportunity to take part in the discussions.

I have three indications from our visitors before I move to questions from Mr Cameron. Could you try to be succinct, as we are running over on this area already?

Ms Macdonald has a small final point.

Good morning and a very warm welcome to the 27th meeting of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee in 2022. We have received apologies this morning from Maurice Golden MSP.

Our first item of business is a decision on taking an agenda item in private. Do members agree to take agenda item 3 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

That is supported unanimously around the room—or maybe not.