Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Official Report 1021KB pdf

Parliamentary Bureau Motion

The next item of business is consideration of Parliamentary Bureau motion S6M-16685, on approval of a Scottish statutory instrument. I ask Jamie Hepburn to move the motion on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau.

Motion moved,

That the Parliament agrees that the Rural Support (Improvement) (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 [draft] be approved.—[Jamie Hepburn]

I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests, which notes that I am a farmer.

Tonight, we are being asked to support an SSI on the new whole-farm plan, which contains a new condition that farmers and crofters across the country will have to comply with in order to receive basic agricultural support. Those who apply for support this year will need to complete two of five new plans: an animal health and welfare plan, a biodiversity audit, an integrated pest management plan, a carbon audit and a soil analysis.

My colleagues and I will support the SSI today. However, to suggest that we fully support it would be far from accurate. We do not want to hold up vital payments to farmers, but I want to be open with the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity and say that we walk very, very tepidly with him. If he read the room correctly during the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee’s session on the topic, he will know that there are real concerns across the Parliament about the process of agricultural policy change.

I have two key fears. The first is that the rural support plan—a key document that sets the overall vision and strategy for agricultural support—is not due to be placed before the Parliament until after a series of pieces of secondary legislation have implemented various new policies. I am aware that stakeholders outside Parliament are deeply worried about that.

Equally, there is concern that the SSI, along with a previous SSI on the Scottish suckler beef support scheme and future secondary legislation, will not treat smaller farmers and crofters fairly and that they will be disadvantaged by the changes. The industry wanted to see less bureaucracy, not more, and I remain concerned that the plans not only will be detrimental to some parts of our industry but will not actually achieve any outcomes. I realise that the Scottish Government seems to like doing this, but, if we put legislation through when we do not have key information, we put it through in a vacuum. That undermines Parliament’s ability to provide fair scrutiny and risks damage to our incredible agricultural community.

Our farmers and crofters produce great-quality food and drink, and we lead the world on animal health and welfare. The industry is desperately seeking new methods to increase biodiversity, reduce climate impacts and make sure that we all have wholesome food on our tables. There is more to do, but the Government must work with and for the industry. That includes recognising the worrying reduction in livestock numbers and helping to support production so that the whole supply chain, which brings with it thousands of jobs in Scotland, can prosper.

As always, the Scottish Conservatives give our full and unwavering support to our agricultural community on farm and in the wider supply chain, but, unless more answers are given in respect of future agricultural policy, we may not be so willing to vote with the minister the next time.

The regulations seek to introduce the foundations of the whole-farm plan approach as a condition of the basic payment scheme. I make it clear that this is about ensuring that our farmers and crofters have the information that they need to be more productive and more profitable. The approach will baseline their current practices, allowing them to progress and to measure their progress.

We had an extremely interesting meeting today with John Gilliland, who states:

“If you can’t measure, you can’t manage it.”

What we are doing will highlight the good practices that are already being undertaken to help people to identify where they could become more efficient, cut emissions and increase biodiversity while continuing to produce the high-quality food that we all want them to produce.

In 2025, we are asking that two of the following plans and audits be undertaken: an animal health and welfare plan, a nature report, a carbon report, an integrated pest management plan and a soil report. Businesses are free to select which two they undertake, based on their situation, and two of the requirements already have equivalents—an example is the animal welfare plan from Quality Meat Scotland. We have been asked about that regularly.

I make it clear that the whole-farm plan approach was developed with the industry. We have worked with farmers, crofters, agricultural stakeholders, skills delivery partners and our environmental partners to develop the new conditionality. I note the recent response from the Scottish Crofting Federation. Let me be clear that crofting is a vital part of our rural economy culturally, economically and socially. That is why my officials and I have worked, and continue to work, with the crofting community to ensure that the proposals meet their needs, and it is why I have instructed my officials to write to the chief executive of the Scottish Crofting Federation, asking her to meet me to discuss the best way forward.

The regulations have been drafted to come into force on 5 March 2025 so that farmers and crofters can set out in their single application forms which two plans they have chosen this year. The SAF window opens on 15 March and is expected to close on 15 May.

Given that we are looking at the SSI today, does the minister agree that the co-design of the policies is not working? At this late stage, we are still hearing real concerns from our crofters and smaller farmers.

No. As I said to Mr Carson in a meeting of the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee, I do not agree with that, because we have co-designed with the crofting community and the rest of the farming community. They were part of the steering group that delivered the SSI that we are considering today.

The SSI marks a significant point in our progress towards becoming a world leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture, and it is right that we must expect more from those who are in receipt of public funds and support on the journey. A failure to bring the regulations into force would risk undermining that progress and the efforts and work of many of our farmers and crofters, who are already undertaking the improvements that we are asking for.

I reassure members that we are committed to continuing to support our farmers and crofters so that they continue to deliver for sustainable food production, nature and climate—and to ensure our thriving rural communities.

The question on the motion will be put at decision time.