Chamber and committees

What is the impact of COSLA walking away? Has that caused damage?

Good morning—it is still morning.

What are your thoughts on the proposed amendments to the bill? Specifically, our briefing papers include questions about transferring accountability for the proposed national care service to Scottish ministers, as was initially proposed. Is that necessary to deliver the recommendations of Derek Feeley’s review?

I have a final wee question. In the agreement that ministers are working on with COSLA, ministers have the ability to co-design a framework bill—it is a framework bill—then to build on that with further legislation. Would continuation of negotiation support the challenges that you describe on standardising the competency requirements for all staff across Scotland? That is part of it. The bill might not address the shortage of staff, but it looks at how we approach the engagement that is required to have a workforce that could be paid equally, for instance, across the whole of Scotland. That is my understanding of the joined-up co-design approach to creating a national care service that would work across Scotland with the local levels that are required, as Louise Long described.

Was that one hour before making a decision about whether to give your support?

Did you want to see the amendments in order to make a decision about supporting them?

I think so. I think I have the gist of your response—that everybody is in agreement that we need ministerial accountability to drive the direction.

I have another quick question. You have already mentioned post-smolts, and the situation where salmon spend less time in the open pens—one summer instead of two. I see that Mowi has just released the first post-smolts in Loch Etive to the Isle of Muck. Is the industry considering adopting that approach more widely?

No—I rolled my questions together. It sounds as though the planning system needs to be enabled to achieve the aim of moving pens, where that is necessary.

As well as housing, there is community benefit. When the committee did its inquiry, there was talk of how the industry can provide benefits to communities. The Griggs review also referred to how communities can be better supported. When the committee carried out community engagement in Oban, some people thought that the jobs were piecemeal, whereas Tavish Scott said that there are a lot of jobs and that average earnings are £36,000. Will you talk about the different ways in which communities can be supported?

I will be really quick. Ben Hadfield, you mentioned that stocking densities have been lower in Scotland compared with those in Norway, on the back of the difference in sea temperatures. Are you considering reducing the stocking density here because of the changes in water temperature?