Chamber and committees

The national islands plan was put in place to address things that were happening before Brexit, such as depopulation, so that comment is also unfair.

Within the budget for the national islands plan, I cannot determine the detail of the split between the fiscal resource of £1.5 million and the capital budget of £4 million. It would be really helpful if you could get back to the committee on that.

The highly protected marine area policy has been likened to a second Highland clearances. How does that work with the national islands plan for combating and halting population decline?

I had a response from Shetlanders to HPMAs shared with me. Can you share with the committee some of the issues that they were raising with you around the increase by 10 per cent of protected marine areas?

Do you want me to skip to my last question, convener?

I think that it is also unfair to state that. Our committee papers say, for example, that three out of nine milestones for meeting depopulation issues have been met. On digital connectivity, according to what I have in front of me, none of the milestones have been met. Can you understand, therefore, why I am asking you that question?

I will go back to the conversation around the participatory process and engaging with civil society. We heard from witnesses that people feel marginalised in that process. That came through very strongly from people with learning disabilities, disabled people and other groups. What you are talking about sounds great, but how, in reality, does the process work so that we bring everybody along with us in it?

I will pick up on Professor Boyle’s response to my colleague Pam Gosal. There is a conflict between minimum core obligations and rights that are in various articles under UN obligations, such as the right of disabled people to liberty and to live independently in the community, and rights for children and pregnant women.

How does the human rights approach help individuals? I will give an example from my constituency. A young man with learning difficulties has a place at a college but does not have supervised travel or transport to get there. We know that the rights of individuals under such articles are already being breached. In the practical context, how will the proposed approach help that person?

As I have been listening, it has dawned on me that we have not considered geographical inequalities or the ability to deliver within public bodies. What you are saying is that it is definitely not a silver bullet and we have not explored this area enough but there could be inconsistencies in outcomes across Scotland because of that.

That is helpful, but I would like to press you on the issue of isolation. It is helpful that there is a definition, but how do you actually prove that a farmer has not isolated? You said that, because of the salvage value and the market value, compensation will not be reduced by 95 per cent. What if we have a significant outbreak? What could happen to these regulations to ensure that farmers are supported rather than penalised for something that is beyond their control?

So, if 10,000 cattle were moving into Scotland every year, how many of those would come from high-risk areas?