Seòmar agus comataidhean

Yes.

You are asking me to look three years into the future. I do not know what the support would look like in three years’ time. Every time that I speak to committees and to farming communities, I stress that I want to do everything that I can to protect the beef sector to ensure that it is viable and has a critical mass so that Scotland can continue to produce top-quality beef. That is my aim. We will have to balance that alongside the other challenges that we face, but I will always be thinking about how we ensure that the industry’s viability is stable or that it improves.

We are going to monitor that as we go along.

We want to maintain and restore peatlands and wetlands. As you know, that is the purpose of the GAEC standards. We are concerned about actions that would dry out or damage those areas. Any use of adjacent land that would dry out those areas will be subject to regulation and will be part of any overall inspection that a farmer is subject to. That is when the assessment will happen.

You have gone way beyond the remit of the SSI.

That was discussed, was it not?

I am quite happy to meet the member separately, outwith the committee session, but it is way beyond what we are looking at right now.

Okay—we will take that away. Brian Service has heard everything that you have said.

I will let Brian Service answer that.

It is £40 million and it is already in the system.