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From what you have said, it sounds as if the difference relates to the scope of work that gives rise to the desire for own-initiative powers.

That concludes our questions. Do you want to highlight anything else to us?

Agenda item 3 is evidence on the annual report for 2022-23 of the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland. We will hear from Ian Bruce, who is the commissioner, and Sarah Pollock, who is a hearings and investigations officer.

I invite Ian to make a brief opening statement.

It is good to hear the level of confidence that you have in the direction of travel. Are you satisfied that your office has the staff and resources required to carry out your functions effectively and efficiently?

That concludes our questions for this morning.

Thank you for the report and all the information about the improvements and the positives around there being very few challenges. I also noted the training that you have been giving to selection panel chairs so that they can achieve effective boards. I thought that that was tremendous. You have done that piece of work to ensure that our public body boards are reflective of the communities that they represent. Thank you very much for that work, too.

Thank you—it is helpful to hear that overview.

Why has there been no public consultation on the bill? What changes to the bill, if any, were made following conversations with stakeholders?

Thank you.

I will bring in Marie McNair, who joins us online.

We have been talking about the link with the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022. Part of the challenge is how we get more people to afford healthy, sustainable food. I have been thinking about the issue of sale price. My question is particularly for David McKay and Ross Paton, in relation to organics, but I will put it to everybody.

Does the Scottish Government need to have the power to subsidise not only the production but the sale price of certain foods, particularly fruit and vegetables? Perhaps, at a certain price, a subsidy could be applied. I do not know whether it would be possible to apply it to only fruit and veg grown in Scotland, or grown through regenerative methods, or whether it could offset the premium that producers should earn for using regenerative methods.

My question is about the code, which we have touched on. David McKay talked about what the code is for and its legal basis, and Lorna Cole talked about the idea that it should be prepared with stakeholders. We would be interested in hearing your thoughts on what should be in the code. We have talked around that. For example, we heard from Kirsty Jenkins and Professor Cathy Dwyer about the need for animal welfare considerations in the objectives. Do we need those in the code? Ross Paton mentioned guidance on organics. I am interested in hearing what you think should be in the code.

Section 7 of the bill deals with the creation of guidance, including guidance in the code, and how ministers should use that. What are your thoughts about that?

I have a question that kind of connects to the regulatory review. I am interested in how you deal with complaints about how you have dealt with regulatory matters and whether you think that some social landlords’ staff may be unwilling to raise complaints with you.