Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thanks for that, Pauline.

I believe that Valerie, then Caroline, would like to come in.

Good morning and welcome to the eighth meeting in 2023 of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee. I remind all members and witnesses to ensure that their electronic devices are on silent and that all notifications are turned off during the meeting. I convey apologies from Miles Briggs, who is unable to join us today.

The first item on our agenda today is to decide whether to take item 4 in private. Do members agree to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

Actually, convener, I was going to ask questions about subsidy control and the UKIMA, but those issues have been covered.

I had another question about the ClimateXChange study—I think that the ARIOB had a presentation from ClimateXChange. Vicki, you were not there, because you are not on the ARIOB.

It has been really helpful to hear about your discussions around the design of future agricultural policy, and you covered quite a lot of what I wanted to ask, but I want to go a little deeper. Today’s committee papers highlighted that the ARIOB has been considering definitions of “regenerative” and “agroecology”. I will direct this question first to Vicki Swales and then to anyone else who wants to come in. I am interested in hearing whether you think that definitions of those terms or a list of principles should be included in the bill—or somewhere else—in order to help farmers to understand that direction of travel. I would also appreciate hearing your thoughts on the presentation that the ARIOB received from ClimateXChange on its study on the potential for an agroecological approach in Scotland.

One of our themes is the culture of public bodies. You have touched on that, so we will move on to the next theme, which is national and local leadership.

Thank you very much for adding that. It is interesting that more and more organisations and councils are considering that trauma-led approach. It seems to be bringing good outcomes.

The next theme is the role of the third sector. Paul McLennan will lead on that.

You might have touched on my next question, which relates a bit more to what happens on the ground. Local outcomes improvement plans are tools for creating that sense of shared purpose. We heard from witnesses last week and this week that LOIPs are the foundation stone and that they are effective if they include a clear set of outcomes and if there is a good data set to allow those outcomes to be measured. Why does that not always happen?

Thank you very much for those responses. We are doing work on the local governance review; perhaps we will need you to come back and speak to us more about that. What you have highlighted connects to the work on the new deal for local government. You spoke earlier in your evidence about parity and how to get there. You made some interesting points about who is willing to take the steps that are required.

Your evidence has been very helpful—indeed, it has helped to create a broader context for the evidence from our previous panels.

Agenda item 3 is evidence on draft regulations from Tom Arthur, the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth. Mr Arthur is joined by Scottish Government officials James Messis, who is the policy team leader, and Stephen Rees, who is a solicitor in the legal directorate. I welcome you all to the meeting and invite the minister to make an opening statement.