Chamber and committees

You have highlighted the issues around islands and island groups. I am from Orkney, and I am well aware of the importance of the Fair Isle ferry funding as part of the levelling up fund. Shetland Islands Council said that, in essence, that saved Fair Isle as a populated island. You spoke about the islands forum group and the new group that will be looking at islands connectivity and transport in particular. When do you hope that there will be further updates or progress on that?

I have noticed that the contingency budget has decreased by 33 per cent. Can you explain that? Has it been higher than it needed to be in previous years, or is it just because of circumstances?

I have just one more thing to say. Earlier, the convener highlighted reserves, and you and John Mason also mentioned them. I take it that you know how much money is held in reserve by public bodies across Scotland.

I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests as a partner in a farming business. As a Highlands and Islands MSP who lives in a rural community, I will focus my first few questions on rural issues.

Agricultural support has been cut by £33 million. A similar amount has been cut from the forestry budget, and £7 million has been lost from the marine budget. Land reform funding has been slashed by £3.5 million. A total of about £80 million has been cut from the rural affairs, land reform and islands budget. Overall, this is a bad budget for rural Scotland. When you were considering the budget, what concerns did you have about the impact of those cuts on rural areas?

I will look at two other organisations that are vital to rural Scotland.

We touched on economic growth earlier. Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s budget has continued to fall; it is being cut by another £8 million next year. South of Scotland Enterprise will lose £7 million. You said earlier that enterprise agencies will be focused on key things that matter. What will those things be, and what have they been doing over the past few years that have not been key things that matter?

I was on the economy committee when we carried out an inquiry into business support, which included the enterprise bodies and Business Gateway. I would be interested to know what things they have been doing that have not been priorities.

For clarification, I will touch on Business Gateway further, because it is not mentioned in the budget at all. Previously, it was mentioned, although funding for it had been cut. Is any Government support going into Business Gateway for next year?

Okay, thanks for that.

I will ask a couple of quick questions about other areas. We have talked about the council tax freeze. You said that you are looking at funding that at an average of around 5 per cent. Do you accept that there will be winners and losers among the councils? For example, Orkney Islands Council—I am from Orkney—is considering a 10 per cent increase, but it will be substantially underfunded if you are basing the funding on a 5 per cent figure. There will be winners and losers.

Thank you.

Therefore, that is something that you will be looking at. I understand what you are saying—COSLA would not necessarily support different deals, but each council has different circumstances and they have to deliver their public services. Rural and island communities have particular challenges.

I am not sure that Scotland’s farmers and crofters will feel very prioritised by a £33 million budget cut.

One of the issues that came up at last week’s meeting was the lack of clarity in how decisions are made, and perhaps a lack of consistency, too. I mentioned forestry, and you just talked about tree planting. The forestry budget went up by £10 million in this financial year, but it is being cut by more than £30 million next year. What is the rationale behind that?