Chamber and committees

You are absolutely right. The salmon is an iconic species for Scotland, and we need to do absolutely everything that we can to prevent a further decline in its numbers. We are not holding anything up in trying to address the challenges that we face. The stage that we are at now is based on the work that we have done in trying to identify what the key pressures on wild salmon are. That is why we published the wild salmon strategy and then published the implementation plan.

It is all very well to have a strategy, but we need to deliver on what we set out in it. That is where the 60 recommendations are key, and that is why having a delivery group, which will ensure that we deliver against those recommendations, will play a really critical part, as well. The group has already had its first meeting and, as I have said, we will report annually on where we are at with each of the recommendations.

You talked about innovation. That is really important. That is why we support innovation and fund it. Through the marine fund Scotland, we have provided about £7 million-worth of funding for innovation and technology. We also work with the likes of the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre, which gets funding through the Scottish Funding Council and takes forward a number of important projects.

We are therefore not holding anything up. We want to address the challenges that we know salmon farming faces, but some of them are more difficult to deal with. There is the impact of climate change, and there are all the other challenges that it faces. That is why it is important that we try to take action on all those fronts and do what we can to meet the challenges that we know exist.

Yes, absolutely. We have seen that through the voluntary reporting of data. Obviously, we have some regulatory and mandatory requirements of the industry, but, using mortalities as an example, the industry has voluntarily published that information by the percentage and cause of mortalities. Industry is also looking at—I am sure that officials will correct me if I am wrong—its community engagement, the code of practice on that and how it can better do that. Although I have outlined some of the actions that we have taken on the overall holistic picture and the consideration of the various issues in the round, and I have talked about the role of SEPA and regulation in that, I think that industry is making those changes on the basis of the various voluntary information that it has provided. We collect all that information, and the Scotland’s Aquaculture website is an example of where we have tried to pull all of that information together.

On the use of antibiotics, Jill Barber touched on the on-going work in the consultation on the use of emamectin benzoate. Anything that is used has to be within the environmental limits and standards that are in place. Again, that is where the work of the farmed fish health framework has been really important. That group is chaired by the chief vet, and treatment is a theme of the work. If the committee would like more detail on the work that the group is undertaking on antibiotics, I will be happy to provide that.

Again—

I also point out that, in its negotiations with New Zealand, the EU is looking at similar changes with greater flexibility with regard to, for example, the percentage of the grape variety that should be on the label.

There is what is set out in the Government’s legislative programme, obviously. You will have seen the debate on the legislative consent motion that took place in the Parliament yesterday, and this instrument is coming forward, but I will ask Kevin Matheson to say whether we expect any more, particularly in relation to food and drink.

It also provides more clarity and transparency on the percentage of alcohol, which the lower-alcohol-volume producers have also welcomed. Other varieties can be used to up the consistency of the wine product, but producers on both sides have welcomed that.

As far as I am aware, New Zealand asked for this during the negotiations primarily to benefit some of the smaller producers that provide mainly for the home market at the moment but could see an opportunity to export to the UK.

Thanks for inviting me to speak about the regulations. On 28 February last year, the United Kingdom signed a free trade agreement with New Zealand. During negotiations, the UK committed to making three minor changes to domestic legislation on how wine and other alcoholic drinks are described and marketed.

The Scottish Government remains of the view that the best option for the UK as a whole and for Scotland is the one that Scotland voted for—that is, remaining in the European Union. The Scottish Government’s default position is to align with EU law where appropriate and where that is in Scotland’s interests. However, as a responsible Government, we are required to observe and implement the United Kingdom’s international obligations. The instrument is required to implement the New Zealand free trade agreement.

The changes that are set out in the instrument will bring some flexibilities to how wine and other alcoholic drinks can be labelled and marketed. However, it will not impact on the practices that are currently employed by producers and traders, who can continue to label and market as they currently do.

The changes allow producers and sellers of wine and other alcoholic drinks slightly more flexibility in respect of the information that they choose to include on their labels. The instrument will make three changes to retained EU law.

First, the instrument will allow any wine product to show alcoholic strength to one decimal place—for example, the strength could be 12.2 per cent or 12.7 per cent. Retained EU law currently limits wine to being labelled to show alcoholic strength to whole or half units—for example, 12 per cent or 12.5 per cent. That will continue to remain a possibility for wine that is marketed here or exported.

The concession to label wine to a single decimal place is not new. That possibility was already extended to Australian wines by the EU in its wine trade agreement with Australia, which the UK retained after exit.

The instrument will also introduce a change to rules concerning the labelling of grape varieties for wine that is marketed in Great Britain. It will require that, where more than one grape variety is listed on a wine label, the named varieties must total at least 95 per cent of the content of the wine. Current retained EU legislation requires that to be 100 per cent. The changes will mean that up to 5 per cent of the content may consist of varieties that are not shown on the label.

The changes that are proposed in the instrument will provide businesses that market and produce wine of multiple grape varieties with the scope to vary the production of a wine, to bring improved consistency and quality. UK domestic wine producers have warmly welcomed the flexibility that that will bring.

The regulations will also allow flexibility in how the terms “alc”, or alcohol, and “vol”, or volume, appear with the numerical alcohol content on wine and other alcoholic beverages. The current rules require that “alc” appears before the numerical alcohol content of the drink and “vol” after. The instrument will allow the term “alc” to appear after the numerical alcohol content of the drink.

Together, those changes will facilitate the trade between the UK and New Zealand. They may also help smaller producers in both countries who might wish to exploit a niche for their product in the market but for whom the size of the order would mean a full label change that would not be economically viable.

I stress that the changes are optional. We expect that many in the industry with established markets in Northern Ireland and/or the EU will continue to label and market wine as they currently do to support sales in those markets.

The Scottish Government consented to a Great Britain-wide consultation seeking views from stakeholders in the sector and more widely on the proposal, and the UK wine industry firmly supports the changes set out in this instrument and welcomes the flexibility that it provides.

I hope that I have said enough to assure members of the need for this instrument. It represents just one part of the changes being made that will allow the new free trade agreement with New Zealand to come into force, but in making those changes we have taken the opportunity to give our thriving wine and alcoholic drinks sector flexibility that will support it to trade in the future.

Finally, the instrument also amends article 11 of retained regulation (EU) 543/2011 to correct a minor error that is contained in regulation 5(5) of the Agriculture (Retained EU Law and Data) (Scotland) Act 2020 (Consequential Modifications) and Agricultural Products, Aquatic Animal Health and Genetically Modified Organisms (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2022. I am happy to take any questions that the committee might have.

I would have to look into that in more detail, but that will be covered by the import ban. I could not give you an idea of the scale of that trade. Again, my officials might have further information on the specifics of that question.