Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you.

This is a brief question at the very end. If you have identified any data or research gaps in the course of your work, how are they being, or how might they be, addressed?

Our next item of business is consideration of consent notifications for two UK statutory instruments. Do members have any comments on the consent notifications?

Chris Stark wants to come back in, to be followed by Jim Fairlie, Rachael Hamilton and Alasdair Allan.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the sixth meeting in 2023 of the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee. I remind those committee members who are using electronic devices to switch them to silent.

Apologies have been received from Finlay Carson and Karen Adam. I welcome Edward Mountain and Emma Harper, who are standing in for Finlay and Karen at today’s meeting.

I thank all our witnesses for attending today. That concludes this evidence session. Thank you in particular to those who have travelled substantial distances to attend in person. We will suspend the meeting until 10:45 to allow witnesses to leave and for members to have a short comfort break.

I will take a very brief supplementary from Jim Fairlie, but I am conscious that we are halfway through the evidence session and we are not yet on our second question on this topic.

Thank you, Jim. We will move on, as we are short on time. I have Claire Simonetta and Jackie McCreery still to come in, and Ariane Burgess wants to ask a supplementary.

I call Jim Fairlie, to be followed by Emma Harper.

We will seek clarity on that.

Are members content to agree with the Scottish Government’s decision to consent to the provisions that are set out in the notifications being included in UK, rather than Scottish, subordinate legislation?

Members indicated agreement.