Chamber and committees

I remind the committee of my entry in the register of members’ interests as a partner in a farming business and a member of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, Scottish Land & Estates and NFU Scotland.

With regard to the convener’s point, framework bills are—as he has said—frustrating for us all. There is a lot of talk about co-design and about things changing, but such an approach makes it extremely difficult to know exactly how we should scrutinise the bill.

Perhaps the panel can clarify something for me. The current plans are for a four-tier system. Some of those tiers will, I imagine, be more costly to administer; for example, tier 2 might require more monitoring and evaluation than tier 1. When do you think that you will get an idea of the structure, and of the emphasis that will be put on each tier?

How would that reserve be funded, and how much do you envisage it being?

So, money could be taken out of the agricultural body to hold in reserves. Would those reserves be for agricultural use only, or could they be utilised outwith that budget line?

It is quite an important issue, though.

I want to briefly cover two other areas, the first of which is EU alignment. The new EU plan—which, as you have said, will last seven years—is going to see its budgets cut; indeed, there are protests happening across Europe about that. Obviously, it is an opportunity to look for a new plan for Scotland. I take it that our own EU alignment is not going to go as far as that.

I just want to get a bit of an idea about some other areas. Within the current system and the framework bill, what will happen to any underspend on a yearly basis? Will it have to remain within the sector, or can it go in and out of the budget, as it does now?

The fire service is a national body but NHS boards are local. Are you aware of whether NHS boards would be exempt at the moment?

I asked you why the process did not start earlier. Why did it not start earlier? We are potentially five years behind other parts of the United Kingdom on that.

Is tier 2 the one tier that will possibly have the most variable costs associated with it?

I have a quick point of clarification along the same lines as the convener’s point about Police Scotland, which has talked about the lack of exemption. As you will be aware, access to housing, particularly in parts of my region of the Highlands and Islands, is very difficult, as there is a shortage of housing. There have been a lot of suggestions that public bodies should or could provide houses to ensure that they can get the staff that they need, particularly with regard to jobs around the national health service. Would NHS boards be entitled to the exemptions that Police Scotland is not entitled to or would NHS housing also not be exempt?