Chamber and committees

We would have to look at the report before we determined any future approach. As soon as I receive it, I will be happy to keep the committee updated and informed on the next steps.

I set out that timescale because I believed that the report could be completed within that time. Yesterday, NatureScot published an online page that will provide all the information about the engagement that it will be undertaking and how people can make their views known. Again, I am happy to circulate that information to the committee.

Engagement is critical in this process, as we want to know what people in Galloway think about all sorts of issues, including the boundary, governance, any potential powers that the park might have and, indeed, whether people in Galloway want a national park, which is one of the key questions that we want to get to grips with. I have been perfectly open and transparent about that. I do not have any agenda here; I genuinely want to know what people think, and I really hope that people will engage in that process.

As I said, the information was published yesterday and I will circulate it to the committee. Although there might be a formal consultation period, there will be further engagement opportunities throughout that process. I am not going to commit today to extend the consultation period. If it transpires through that process that more time is needed, I will have to consider that. However, I encourage everyone to ensure that they make their views known throughout the process.

I have made my position on that clear, too. I understand that a petition has been lodged with the Scottish Parliament’s Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee in relation to that. However, national parks are already accountable to their boards and to the Scottish Government. They can report to the Parliament, too. We already have mechanisms in place that assess whether our national parks are achieving their outcomes, and I believe that that process is thorough enough.

The development of what could be a new national park in Galloway will not involve a like-for-like process with our two existing national parks, which are very different from each other. The proposal for Galloway would be very different again. Assuming that they want a national park, it would be for the people in Galloway to decide what they want that to look like. That is why the exercise that NatureScot is undertaking is a hugely important part of the process.

The review of the national outcomes will be helpful. In relation to the indicators for the national outcomes, it has sometimes been hard to disaggregate rural data from urban data, so we have introduced a rural data dashboard, which helps us to deal with some of the issues that we have experienced. It is important to highlight that the information that we are gathering through the rural data dashboard is helping us with the rural delivery plan, which we touched on in earlier discussions. We will, of course, set out how we are delivering against each outcome, because that is intrinsic to our work and what we do. We have to deliver against the existing frameworks, and improving the data will enable us to do that.

All that I have is what is being set out in relation to the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill right now. The advice on the carbon budget is expected to come out around spring next year. All of that will depend on the passage of the bill and what comes out of that process, but that is what is anticipated at the moment. Again, I am not the lead minister on the bill. Gillian Martin is, and she is offering an information and advice session next week.

First, we do not know what the overall quantum of the budget will be, and, secondly, we are still to design some of the future tiers of the new framework. We set out in the route map when we expect each of the new tiers to be introduced, and we are working according to that timeline.

There is a lot in there, so I will try to get through as much as I can and then I might turn to Donald Henderson for more information.

We are already delivering on that through a number of mechanisms and streams of work that we are taking forward through the agricultural reform programme, as well as through other current work and programmes. You are, no doubt, aware of the agri-environment climate scheme—AICS—which we use to help to deliver on our biodiversity ambitions.

There are also conditions that are being introduced next year in relation to farming support and the introduction of the foundations of a whole farm plan. Part of that plan is a package of audits, and we expect farmers and crofters to undertake at least two out of the five audit options that are there. One of them is biodiversity auditing. We have also been working with NatureScot on the development of a biodiversity app that will help to garner information on what is on farm.

Quite a lot of work is under way that will help us with that wider delivery. Donald Henderson can add more information.

The delivery of those is embedded in the policies as we work through them. In terms of the work that we are taking through in fisheries and aquaculture—

I understand that I will be coming to the committee in a few weeks to discuss aquaculture and our progress in relation to that. There are a number of pressures in our seas, which impact not just on aquaculture but on fish stocks more generally.

We have also been working on development. We have introduced interim measures in relation to some of our inshore fishery stocks, and we are looking at wider measures more generally. Some of the work that we are taking forward is outlined in the programme for government.

I emphasise that the work on climate change and biodiversity is not happening in isolation from other policy areas. It is very much embedded in the changes and the transformation that we are implementing, and it very much features in all policy areas across the portfolio.

Again, there is no getting around the fact that the marine directorate and all other directorates across the Government are under pressure, and the focus is on delivering on the Government’s priorities. With regard to our inshore fisheries, in particular, a number of pieces of work are under way in that respect, and we aim to progress them as much as we possibly can. We have been spending about £9 million a year on fisheries science as a whole, and that figure has been relatively consistent over the past few years.