Seòmar agus comataidhean

I concur with Tim Eagle’s points. I am going to vote no in this case and try to bottom out more information and more understanding. However, between now and the SSI coming to the chamber, I would like to get assurances from the minister on action that supports other people. We are talking about small producers, but, in this context, we are talking about vegetable and fruit producers. They are all professional and very capable of producing food.

I want to go back to something that George Burgess said. We are continuing the scheme, which is to do with the fact that English producers could access the Scottish budget. That is not catastrophic, but it is concerning that they could tap into the budget. However, there is an exclusivity in the programme, because market gardeners or direct-to-sales people cannot get into the schemes.

George Burgess spoke about the requirements for a £1 million turnover and for a minimum of five producer organisations. I think that there is also a requirement to contribute 100 per cent, or at least 75 per cent, of your production to the producer organisation. If you have a direct-to-sales set up and already sell direct to your customers, that will not work for you.

People are trying to access the funding, because it provides the support around production planning, quality improvement, and so on that would help them to develop and grow. However, they cannot access that because the producer organisation requirement does not fit their business model. More and more people are selling direct to the market or are small-scale market gardeners who produce locally. I know that the minister is very fond of farmers’ markets in Scotland, as he was involved in setting up the first one.

We have the design of an SSI. The minister is saying that the scheme is working for the three POs that support a number of farmers, but it is excluding many other people who are doing the best that they can and are struggling with climate and nature challenges. They also feeding people in Scotland; they are involved in the good food nation resilience that we really need. For me, that is the issue.

I also want to flag up the implication that, if you are not in a PO, you do not want to collaborate; I do not think that that is true. Some small producers cannot be in producer organisations and are incredibly collaborative. Some are in parts of Scotland where the geography makes it difficult to collaborate in some of the ways that POs would ask of them. I hear the need to pass the SSI, but I am concerned about why we are hurrying to do so. If there are existing contracts and the existing POs are okay for another 18 months or so—

Can you give us a timescale? Saying that you are actively looking at it does not build confidence .

Are producers who are based in England part of the three POs that we have now?

I feel as though I have been talking about the pilot fund for years, and small-scale producers tell me that they feel that the process has been dragging on, that the money has not come through and that it is not an appropriate fund.

I also want to understand the scale of the producers that are in producer organisations. Will you talk about that?

What do you mean by small scale? Sometimes, people talk about a small-scale farm and it turns out to be 70 hectares.

I have a question about timing and access. We have heard from stakeholders who are concerned that, if we pass the SSI, that could prevent new producer organisations from applying for funding until 2030, effectively freezing access during a period when we really need to expand domestic fruit and veg production. I would be interested to hear any assurances that you can give to small producers that the SSI will not entrench exclusion or delay meaningful support while a redesign is considered.

The committee has been made aware that, in the fuel poverty space, solar thermal for heating could potentially be very helpful in some existing buildings.

Do not speak too soon.

At some point, the Climate Change Committee indicated the need for a 20 per cent reduction in private car use. That then points in the direction of the real need for reliable public transport infrastructure that you have mentioned. There are certainly challenges there. I take public transport to and from work. Sometimes a train is cancelled and I have to take the bus instead, as happened last week. The bus was late initially because the driver hit traffic coming out of Aberdeen, which meant that he had to have a longer break when he reached Inverness, which then meant that the bus was 40 minutes late overall. I am used to that. However, if people have to choose between the convenience of either getting in their car and getting home or waiting for a bus on a cold night, there is a difficulty there.

Are the roll-out and potential expansion of the under-22 bus pass scheme helping? The aim is to get young people used to using public transport and understand that it is reliable to a point, even if it is not 100 per cent reliable.