Chamber and committees

If you are talking about the whole quantum of funding, as the committee will be aware and as we touched on during our committee appearance on the budget at the start of this year, £15 million of that money was returned to the portfolio and £46 million is still to be returned. Largely, that money was from areas in which there had been underspends or where it would not have been possible to spend the budget within that allocation, which is why those savings had to be returned. However, again, those savings will be returned to the portfolio—I have that commitment from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government. Again, those discussions will be on-going in relation to the upcoming budget.

Absolutely. We have set out some proposals that we think would help to alleviate some of that, including a future veterinary agreement and a sanitary and phytosanitary arrangement with the EU. We have always sought that and, as I have already said, we believe that the UK Government wants to go in that direction, too. I hope, therefore, that we will be pushing at an open door when we have those discussions.

We recently published our expectations, which are available on our website. I am happy to share them with the committee if members would like to see them, but they set out what we would like to see in an SPS agreement and what we think the benefits would be. As we know, households have paid an extra £7 billion since Brexit, because of the extra costs that have resulted, and some of the barriers to trade might be removed if we can make progress with an agreement. That is, ideally, where we would want to be.

It is the DEFRA secretary of state that I will meet on Monday, as part of the first interministerial group meeting that we have had for a year, which will reset that relationship. It is good that we will have those discussions in person. I have already set out some of our key priorities in my correspondence to the secretary of state. There are some urgent matters for clarification, some of which relate to the border target operating model. The future allocation of agricultural funding will also be on the agenda. As with other IMG meetings, I will circulate a communiqué afterwards to update members about the discussions.

I understand the point that you are making. Face-to-face engagement is really important, and I am happy to follow that up with NatureScot. If you hear any concerns, I want to know about those and to hear about them directly. An open and transparent process in which we openly engage with people is hugely important, because we want and need to hear those views. For example, you touched on the issue of the boundary. Is the boundary right? We are dealing with the proposals that were put forward by the nominating groups, but we are keen to hear all those views.

The proposals that were consulted on—I think that it was earlier last year—are about modernising the legislation and the aims of national parks. I cannot tell you definitively what will be in the natural environment bill, because we are still working through what proposals will be introduced, but I will, of course, keep engaging with the committee on the bill. We are considering all those issues at the moment.

There is a lot in that question. There are some specific points that I will have to follow up on in correspondence, and I will be happy to do so in a letter to the committee.

It is a difficult situation, because there is a lot happening in the marine space, as has been touched on previously. It is also an increasingly polarised space, which can make it difficult to progress some of the policies that we are taking forward. However, we have a strong focus on our engagement with stakeholders, and strong relationships exist.

Across the piece, we have tried to put some of the engagement bodies on a more strategic footing. We have done a refresh of the fisheries management and conservation group and the regional inshore fisheries groups, and we will need to monitor the new arrangement and see whether it is working and delivering as everybody hoped that it would. The FMAC, which has various sub-groups, has been put on a more strategic footing, and it meets more regularly, in line with the terms of reference.

Those measures are bedding in, but there are opportunities for stakeholders to feed into our decision-making processes. I meet a variety of stakeholders, which is important. Maintaining those relationships is important, too.

I do not know whether Malcolm Pentland wants to add anything.

There were no big changes as a result of the change in name. It was done just to better recognise that the marine directorate is a directorate of the Scottish Government and not a separate organisation. I would have to get the exact head count figures, as I do not have them to hand—perhaps Iain Wallace or Malcolm Pentland has that information.

We do not necessarily need to wait for a review of the national outcomes before dealing with some of the problems. If there are particular circumstances that need to be looked into, please let me and other relevant ministers know about them.

It is important that we do not forget about the work that is on-going. Our national islands plan is a good example of that. Providing broadband and general connectivity is one of the current plan’s strategic outcomes, and we have to set out how we are delivering against that outcome through the work that is being undertaken.

I appreciate that people who live in a community that does not have access to fibre broadband will feel left out, but, generally, digital connectivity has been improving. However, people in the areas that have not been reached yet will feel the issues more acutely. We have to set out how we are delivering against that outcome and others.

We picked up on a lot of the issues, some of which you have touched on, through the consultation on the national islands plan last year. We heard loud and clear that the plan needs to be updated to reflect some of the current challenges that island communities face. Those will be taken into consideration when we set the objectives in the new national islands plan, which we will publish next year.

That work is, of course, island specific, but I have also talked about what the rural delivery plan might look like. It will not replicate what is in the national islands plan, but it will set out what we are doing across different policy areas to address some of the challenges for our rural communities in Scotland.

First, I refute what you said about a lack of delivery, because we have delivered on some of the areas that you have mentioned, including the publication of the rural and islands—

To be absolutely clear, is the £61 million the overall figure that you are referring to—