Chamber and committees

That is interesting. If local authorities worked collaboratively with private landlords, there might be some scope and opportunity for that.

I should say that the question is about not just Scottish Government support but UK Government and local government support. Is there anything that you have not mentioned in previous answers that you want to highlight?

In what sense?

That, of course, will require the UK and Scottish Governments to work together.

And some of the issues that you raise are reserved.

Are we at a point where, if clarity around frameworks, consideration of the models and appropriate public investment to de-risk were all lined up, we would have a potential comparative advantage, given the strength of the financial sector in the UK and Scotland, or are we playing catch-up?

That was all very interesting and helpful. If, following the meeting, you have further thoughts about local government—for example, the planning system—it would be interesting to hear them.

Understandably, we have focused, in the main, on the potential for natural capital finance to be invested and utilised in rural Scotland. However, there are also areas of private land in urban Scotland where the natural environment could be improved. Is any thinking being done about how such investment could be undertaken and what the opportunities are in that regard? That would make a real difference not just for the environment, but for the quality of life of the majority of our people, who live in urban settings.

Good morning, panel, and thank you for your time. I have two questions. I want to set aside forestry and tree planting, as I know that there has been some discussion on that—for example, the Royal Society of Edinburgh recently published a report on public financial support for tree planting and forestry. However, I am interested in other areas of natural capital financing. Are there any aspects of Government support, be that legislative measures, tax relief or interventions by enterprise agencies, through which we could do more to attract the patient capital that is looking for places to grow and add to the common good of improving biodiversity and tackling climate change?

Joel Paterson, do you want to add anything?

Thank you. Josh Doble, you talked about the need for considerations about natural capital finance to be public sector led, but I appreciate the words of caution that you emphasised. Do you want to put anything else to our committee about the need for the approach to be public-sector led but not public-sector subsidised? I think that that is important.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. On Mr Greer’s points, the human rights bill might be a vehicle for primary legislative change on some of these matters. I thought it might be of interest to mention that for the record.

I have a general question to conclude the session. It is obvious that you really care about ASL, and I appreciate the difficulty of dealing with it and the resource challenge. In your opening remarks, you mentioned that all the recommendations of the Morgan review had been accepted and that 39 actions in the action plan had been delivered. There will be an ASL plan update on the remaining actions that are to be delivered. When can we expect that? How do we track progress? What further engagement will there be with COSLA? When the committee completes its inquiry and makes recommendations, will you be open to providing quarterly updates on progress on those recommendations? You said that constituents write to you regularly—so do mine. What do we say to them about how we are moving forward?