Chamber and committees

On all the points that you are talking about, the position is not as straightforward as going and asking for £X million in funding. As I said, we expect at least the previous promises to be fulfilled and the shortfall to be addressed, but the whole point is that we need to have the discussion on allocations and go through the detail.

We need to discuss the situation with the UK Government.

Again, we need to have that conversation. Ultimately, we want to be able to design and fund a system that will work for us, in Scotland, and not have those constraints from the UK Government.

I disagree with that, because £33 million will be returned to the portfolio and must be spent within it, whereas we do not know what funding will be allocated to the portfolio. We do not know how much we will get or when it will come.

I assumed the responsibilities in relation to peatland, forestry and land reform that previously sat with the Minister for Environment and Land Reform.

We will be engaging with all those key sectors as we move forward. We have recently had a number of debates in the Scottish Parliament to consider some of the issues that have been raised, and it is really important we take all of that into consideration. However, that is also important in relation to the networks that I have talked about and the refresh of those networks that we have undertaken. That will be vital going forward, so that we can really encourage that working together and multilateral engagement as we look to work through some of the issues.

As I outlined previously, we have secured about £486 million of fishing opportunities, but, within that, there are changes in the different stocks from previous years. One of the main challenges is the cut of around 30 per cent to the monkfish total allowable catch. I am really keen that we work together with industry and see how we can better develop the evidence base around that.

Although we have seen that cut in monkfish catch, there have been increases in other stocks, which are looking quite strong. We have seen some quite big increases in North Sea cod, North Sea haddock and whiting. Detailed information on the percentage changes is set out in a letter that I sent to the committee in January, but we have seen some positive moves in relation to some stocks. However, again, there are particular areas of challenge on some species that are valuable to Scotland.

Yes. The process for legislative consent had been triggered, but the UK Government said it would be carrying on regardless of whether it received that confirmation, so that has been frustrating throughout the process.

The key concern in all of this is that the bill contains powers that would mean that the UK Government and its ministers could amend or revoke devolved legislation. There is no consent mechanism in the legislation. Even though there are 587 instruments in the schedule, the whole of retained EU legislation, where it relates to devolved areas, is open to the UK Government. We are talking about thousands of pieces of legislation that the UK Government would have the power to change until 2026.

That is the commitment that we have set out, because we realise the importance of the issues.

There is a project board, which has been overseeing the full cost recovery. My officials will probably be able to tell you who is on that board, but I know that there are stakeholders from each of the Administrations on it.

Farmers and crofters have known that the policy is coming and, because of the engagement that has been undertaken by APHA, we do not expect a significant impact. We have been overcharging in some areas and undercharging in others, which is why the phasing in of increased charges is important. We will introduce a 50 per cent uplift this year and will increase that to 100 per cent full cost recovery next year. Phasing that in, rather than doing it in one fell swoop, is a way of recognising concerns about charges.

I am sure that I will be corrected if I am wrong, but I think that the only exception is in relation to work at border control posts, where there will be 100 per cent cost recovery this year.