Chamber and committees

The issue of consistency more broadly has been raised, which is why we want to go through the scrutiny process and reflect on any comments on it. You mentioned the framework on plant health, but we also have the same approach in relation to the framework on animal health and welfare, where we have set the minimum standards that we would expect to adhere to. If the committee has particular comments on that, we would be more than happy to consider them. When we are dealing with animal health and welfare, in particular, it makes sense for us to have that baseline and to start from there.

I am unable to give any more detail on that at the moment because it is one of the issues that we are working through. I mentioned earlier, in relation to the Subsidy Control Act 2022, that officials are working together on the guidance. We are also working on that area in relation to fisheries and aquaculture. I will be happy to keep the committee updated on that.

Absolutely.

In the response that I provided earlier in which I outlined some of the support that we give, LFASS was in my mind. That is support that we offer in Scotland that is not offered elsewhere in the UK, and we thought that the Subsidy Control Act 2022 posed a real threat to that.

I would be happy to set that out. I do not know whether the committee was copied into all the correspondence that we had with the UK Government when my colleague Ivan McKee was dealing with that with his UK Government counterparts in relation to the Subsidy Control Bill. I would be happy to provide that information, along with the further evidence that we have said that we will provide.

Some of that is set out in the framework. I think that the animal health and welfare framework refers to about 500 pieces of legislation, of which 108 refer to animal health and welfare policy—I am sure I will be corrected if that is wrong—so we are not talking about a small amount of legislation.

My colleague Màiri McAllan has been leading on that element of work. I highlight that there is frustration that that aspect jumped the common frameworks process, when it is exactly the kind of issue that we should have been considering through the process. I think that it is now going back through that process in relation to plant varieties and seeds, but I would be happy to come back with further information on that.

In leaving the EU, we have obviously lost access to a number of groups and forums that we were part of previously. When I gave evidence to the committee on the joint fisheries statement, I highlighted that. Marine Scotland science is a leader in Europe, through the work that it undertakes in marine labs, but there is no doubt that we suffer from not having the same links and access as we had before.

I go back to the point that I made previously about stakeholders. The new approach does not change how we develop policy, because we will still engage with stakeholders in the normal way.

Another example of a loss of the access that we had in the EU relates to the European Food Safety Authority. The loss of access to the EFSA has had implications for us and has meant that, in GB, we have had to put in place an entirely new process, which involves the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland and which has added extra complexity for the businesses that have to adhere to different processes. I hope that those examples are helpful.

This relates to my previous example. The Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland have had to be involved in the new process. That is one specific example. I do not know whether officials have more examples that it would be useful to highlight. I would be happy to follow that up with the committee and to provide more detail of the wider implications of losing access to that scientific advice.

Most frameworks do, but animal health and welfare is one area where the common framework is broader, because of the issues that we are dealing with. As I highlighted in an earlier response, animal health issues do not respect borders.

We have a strong history of collaboration, which the committee will have seen from the existing decision-making forums that are listed in the framework and from our ways of working. It is important—and a very positive development—that we consider such policy areas in the round with regard to how we collaborate.