Chamber and committees

Thank you all. That concludes our public meeting and we will now go into private session.

Aileen, you will appreciate that the Beauly to Denny line went from 132kV to 400kV along almost exactly the same route. That seems to be sensible. Once it had been agreed that it would go along the same route, planning became easier, did it not?

I just made that comment.

The next questions are from Monica Lennon.

That is a very detailed statement. Rather than go back to the minister, I will see whether Collette Stevenson wants to come in with a supplementary based on what she has just heard.

Minister, with the greatest respect, we have been trying to keep the discussion apolitical and I do not think that this is the right place to call someone out. We have been trying to understand the mechanics of the operation. I am happy to let you conclude, but I would urge you to take the personalities out of it and avoid criticising people, as the committee has agreed to do.

We are running short of time, on our agenda and yours, minister. However, I have a quick question. I am interested in your comment about small producers from outwith Scotland that sell some, but not many, goods in Scotland. You gave the example of wine coming in and said that, if one of the big multiples wants to get products from a small producer, Circularity Scotland will give it labels to stick on. I do not understand the process of sticking on the labels. Will that be done by the retailer just before the product goes out the door, or will it be at the point when the products are imported into Scotland? How will that work? Surely, it will add cost and reduce choice.

The next agenda item is consideration of a Scottish statutory instrument. The instrument is laid under the negative procedure, which means that the provisions will come into force unless the Parliament agrees to a motion to annul them. At this stage, no motion to annul has been lodged.

As members have no comments, are we agreed that we do not want to make any further recommendations in relation to the instrument?

Members indicated agreement.

I was suggesting a zonal approach. I was not talking about land ownership. A zonal approach is not limited by who owns the land; it is about directing the support and grants to encourage people to carry out activities on that land. That is something that the Scottish Government can do, is it not?

I am not sure that businesses base their decisions on what is on Twitter.

On the misunderstanding at the business level, I think that the public have signed up to getting deposit returns working. However, when I go to a supermarket—as I did on Saturday—to buy some bottled water, 24 small bottles of water cost £3. That will become £7.80, which is quite a change to my or to anyone else’s shopping basket. Do you think that the public misunderstand the scheme or that they fully understand what is coming down to them?

I am nostalgic about returning other people’s bottles, as well, although that might have been fraud. I am sure that somebody will come on to that in the questions.