Chamber and committees

I appreciate that, but we are looking at the finances. It might not be necessary to provide a new system, but if a new system were required, there would be additional costs on top. Would you say that that is the case?

I appreciate that it is not your area, but you will be aware that in 2012, a new system was brought in that was meant to cost £102 million but ended up costing £178 million, as John Mason said. There were huge cost overruns, and we saw massive disruption to the sector with costs on top of that. My fear is that we do not seem to have clarity on the potential cost of a new system and what we are actually looking to deliver.

But if a completely new system was required, the figure of £60 million in table 5 would not cover that.

But the objectives are not the plan.

As a committee that has to look at the cost implications, we are looking at aims and objectives rather than actual plans.

I take that on board, but the actual agriculture rural support plan will arrive five years later than when the UK Government delivered it. It is important for knowing what the costs are.

I have a final point on this area. The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee has asked that you consider publishing a rural support plan before stage 3.

Right, but you can appreciate why I asked the question. We are being asked to make a decision on the bill’s financial memorandum and there is a lot of uncertainty about how the money, which we all appreciate is limited, is going to be used.

That would be very helpful. The NHS boards that I speak to in my region have staff shortages, and access to housing is a big part of that. My question is about how the issue of an exemption would fit in with encouraging or supporting them.

Last week, at the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee, Professor Thomson, of Scotland’s Rural College, said that a

“rural support plan needs to be front and centre”,

while Douglas Bell, of the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association, in referring to a rural support plan, said:

“The earlier that can come, the better. There is a real frustration among agricultural stakeholders just now about working in a vacuum.”—[Official Report, Rural Affairs and Islands Committee, 31 January 2024; c 11, 12.]

The UK Government was able to provide clarity on its vision for agriculture back in 2020, in the bill that became the UK Agriculture Act 2020. We are left with a framework bill and an approach that the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee has said “poses difficulties for scrutiny”.

Would you agree with that? Why have we not been able to get a clearer vision already, if we are not going to be getting anything else until 2025?