Chamber and committees

I am happy to do that. The cost crisis is affecting everybody across Scotland, but it is particularly acute for people who live on our islands. That was brought into sharp focus by the figures that some of the local authorities have produced. Beatrice Wishart will know this better than me and will correct me if I am wrong, but I think that the work that was done in Shetland showed that people would need to earn about £104,000 a year to not be in fuel poverty. That is shocking.

We knew that we had to do something over and above to address the particular issues that our island communities face, which is why we introduced the islands emergency fund. We have provided £1.4 million through that. It is being distributed on a 100 per cent population basis, as determined by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. We wanted to make sure that the fund could be accessed as easily as possible, so we tried to minimise the criteria that need to be met when people apply for it. We want to make sure that it gets to where it needs to go and that it gets out the door as quickly as possible. Working with local authorities has been a key part of that.

An example is that, in the Shetland islands, that funding is being used to provide breakfasts to 14,000 children and young people. The plan is to run that until March. Again, I am happy to come back to the committee with more information on how the funding is being used by other local authorities if you would find that helpful.

Yes. I will update Parliament and provide more information on that next week. However, we have £3 million allocated for that in the budget this year. The work has been progressing well. There are initial steps that we have to get in place. First, we will look at carbon audits, and we want the climate action plans to be produced on the back of that.

It is central to all the work on carbon-neutral islands that this is not something that we are foisting on communities. We very much want it to be community based, so we are working with communities on each of the six islands. I will be happy to provide more information on that when I update Parliament next week.

Absolutely. I suppose that you are asking how we can develop a project pipeline. I know how challenging it has been, particularly given the feedback that the committee received in previous evidence sessions.

Ultimately, we will not be able to run a multi-annual fund, because we only get the annual allocations. What we are working to do, as I have said in relation to some other schemes, is to provide certainty and as much clarity as we can about what is coming. Some of the improvements that we have planned for the islands programme should help with that. We are actively looking to see how we can do that over the coming years.

We are engaging in that work with the Scottish Futures Trust. I think that the committee received a lot of positive feedback about that engagement, given the SFT’s expertise. We are working with councils where projects have not been successful previously. That on-going work and development will be key going forward. Ultimately, as I said, it will be an annual allocation, but we want to try to provide as much certainty as we can.

That option is still open. However, we are adding the additional option that they can be sold as defrosted so that there is not an impact on retailers and their ability to store and then sell those products.

I thank the committee for inviting me to speak about the regulations, which allow the marketing of certain poultry meat in defrosted condition for a temporary period between 28 November to 31 December.

Regulation 1308/2013—the single common market organisation, or CMO, regulation—makes provision about poultry meat marketing standards. In particular, it stipulates that

“Poultrymeat and poultrymeat preparations shall be marketed in”

only

“fresh ... frozen”

or

“quick-frozen”

condition, and part 1 of schedule 1 to the Poultrymeat (Scotland) Regulations 2011 states that contravention of that requirement is an offence.

Due to the current threat from avian influenza, some retailers, as well as the larger turkey processors—which, together, account for about 90 per cent of poultry meat production—contacted the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to request temporary approval for poultry meat to be frozen and then sold as a defrosted product. The United Kingdom and Welsh Governments have indicated that that will be permitted during the period from 28 November to 31 December.

The Scottish Government sought the views of the Scottish industry, and we wish to address the threat of market disturbance to the poultry meat sector by permitting that in Scotland, too. The instrument therefore temporarily amends the single CMO regulation and the Poultrymeat (Scotland) Regulations 2011 to allow certain poultry meat to be marketed as defrosted. In Scotland, that will not only safeguard domestic supply; it will be of assistance to the industry in mitigating potential loss of income due to any large AI outbreak.

It is important to note that the change does not represent a food safety risk. Under the food information to consumers regulation, any defrosted poultry meat must comply with the labelling regulations, which require that

“the name of the food shall be accompanied by the designation ‘defrosted’”

on the label.

Of course, the marketing of poultry meat as defrosted is not mandatory, as poultry meat can still be marketed as fresh, frozen or quick-frozen during the period. However, those in the industry will be given the option to sell defrosted poultry meat if they so wish.

A full public consultation has not taken place due to the urgent need to temporarily amend the legislation. However, we contacted those in the industry to inform them of the proposal, and we invited comments about it. We received one positive comment and no negative comments. We have also liaised with Food Standards Scotland, which has informed enforcement authorities on behalf of the Scottish Government.

I hope that the information that I have provided to the committee is helpful in setting out the rationale for the instrument. I am happy to take any questions that committee members might have.

I will ask my officials whether we have up-to-date information on that.

We have had discussions with Food Standards Scotland to ensure that no public health risk would be associated with the approach. Generally, the advice would be to follow what is on the label. The labelling element is critically important in making things clear. The advice would be to prepare poultry in line with what is set out on the label.

The commercial freezing and defrosting process is different from what people would do at home, and it is important that people follow the label instructions. Generally, if a product has been defrosted, it would be recommended that it is stored and chilled before it is prepared rather than refrozen.

The advice is to follow the instructions on the label. That is why it is really important to show clearly that the poultry has been defrosted.

They are being sold only as defrosted. More birds could potentially be frozen—that could be an option—but we have taken the decision and gone ahead with it because retailers cannot stock more frozen products. They are already selling birds as defrosted, if that makes sense.

On enforcement, we can see what has happened across the rest of GB. Local authorities have been asked not to enforce the regulations as they are, whereas, in Scotland, we have changed the legislation. We would simply be enforcing in the normal way.

We are not looking to do that at the moment. We intend the approach to be for only the stated period of time, given the nature of the outbreaks that we have seen.

To put things in context, at this time last year, we had not seen any cases. The circumstances are therefore very particular. We will, of course, potentially consider the matter again in the future, but, given the urgency of the situation and to prevent market disturbance, we have set out the approach for that period of time.