Chamber and committees

Thank you. That is helpful.

We have touched on the role of Parliament in scrutiny. Jayne Jones commented that local authorities have a process through which elected members will, no doubt, be expected to approve good food nation plans when they are eventually developed. Given that much of the content of the good food nation plan will be in secondary legislation, which allows for very little scrutiny, should the Scottish Government’s plan come to the Scottish Parliament for approval and further scrutiny before local authorities are expected to pay regard to it?

Absolutely.

Mark, do you have any thoughts on whether the Scottish Government’s plan should come before Parliament before it comes into force?

One of the participants in our engagement event on Monday suggested that rural areas are carrying the burden of delivering a just transition for those in urban areas, because rural areas carry the burden of peatland restoration, hugely ambitious tree planting and, of course, wind farms, for which we see more and more applications coming to the Scottish Government overturning community objections or local authorities not having the capacity to deal with wind farm applications, which are then sent to the Scottish Government through non-determination. The new NPF4 almost assumes in favour of renewables in rural areas. How does that deal with a community’s right to decide what is on its doorstep and listening to the community’s voice? That is a real issue. What is particularly lacking is that in some of the very remote areas that have large wind farms—for example, in Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders—there is no prospect of the green industrial zones that you talk about.

Thank you, cabinet secretary. We will now move to questions from members.

There will be a division. Please indicate your vote by raising your hand or by putting Y, N or A in the chat box.

For

Adam, Karen (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP)
Allan, Dr Alasdair (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP)
Burgess, Ariane (Highlands and Islands) (Green)
Carson, Finlay (Galloway and West Dumfries) (Con)
Fairlie, Jim (Perthshire South and Kinross-shire) (SNP)
Minto, Jenni (Argyll and Bute) (SNP)
Wishart, Beatrice (Shetland Islands) (LD)

Against

Hamilton, Rachael (Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con)

Abstentions

Villalba, Mercedes (North East Scotland) (Lab)

Welcome back, everyone. Under agenda item 5, we will return to taking evidence on the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill. Today, we will focus on public bodies. I welcome to the meeting Mike Callaghan, policy manager, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities; Mark Hunter, strategic lead, food and facilities support, East Ayrshire Council; and Jayne Jones, national chair, Assist FM food and drink, Argyll and Bute Council.

Members will note that the bill will place a duty on health boards and local authorities to produce a good food nation plan. The clerks have been unable to secure any witnesses to represent health boards for today’s meeting, which is very disappointing. I have written to all the health boards to invite them to provide written responses to some of the questions that will be posed today. I hope that we can incorporate those responses into our inquiry.

We will now move to questions. We have until approximately 12 o’clock. I will kick off.

What is the witnesses’ understanding of what being a good food nation means? What are your views on whether the bill will enable public authorities to contribute to that ambition?

In NPF3, economic growth and development was a priority. The then Minister for Local Government and Planning, Derek Mackay, suggested that opportunities for altered forestry increased sustainable economic growth, and it led to the Government’s economic strategy. However, this draft of NPF4 does not mention economic growth at all, apart from two times in relation to the national transport strategy. Therefore, it does not appear to have any economic growth strategy. We want to ensure that Scotland optimises opportunities for growth and economic success along with a balance between development and environmental protections. Is that something that has been missed? If not, how have you addressed that in this document?

I thank the minister, cabinet secretary and witnesses for giving evidence this morning. I will suspend the meeting briefly to allow a change of witnesses. We will reconvene at 5 past 10.

Our second item of business is an evidence session on the draft national planning framework 4. I welcome to the meeting Mairi Gougeon, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, and Tom Arthur, the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth. They are accompanied by Scottish Government officials: Jill Barber, the head of aquaculture development; Cara Davidson, the branch head of environment and natural resources; Andy Kinnaird, the head of planning transformation; Philip Raines, the head of the rural economy and communities division; and Fiona Simpson, the chief planner.

I invite the cabinet secretary to make a brief opening statement.