Seòmar agus comataidhean

I am a Highlands and Islands MSP and we are talking about five of the local authorities in that region. One of the big issues that people raise with me all the time is repopulation and repeopling. There is a concern about the idea of changing the boundaries. I know that you have flexible restrictions on the criteria that you had to work with, which is what you have been talking about. However, what will happen if we start to move the representation in Highland towards Inverness and pull it away from the areas that we are desperately trying to repopulate and where we are trying to get more people to live? What are your thoughts on that, if you can give them?

The next item is an opportunity for the committee to take further evidence to inform its thinking on what our key priorities should be during this session, with a particular focus on local government and communities. The evidence session will also be an opportunity to raise issues in order to inform the committee’s pre-budget scrutiny. The committee will take evidence in a round-table format.

I begin by warmly welcoming David Allan, who is deputy director of the Scottish Community Development Centre; Paul Bradley, who is the policy and public affairs manager at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations; Kim Fellows, who is commissioning editor at the Local Government Information Unit; Sarah Gadsden, who is the chief executive of the Improvement Service; Angus Hardie, who is the director of the Scottish Community Alliance; and Paul O’Brien, who is the chief executive of the Association for Public Service Excellence.

Before I invite questions from members, I ask that people who are participating remotely press R in the BlueJeans chat function if they wish to respond to a question. The chat function should not be used to write responses to questions, as they will not be recorded.

Different committee members will initiate different themes. Because we have quite a few people on the panel, we will not necessarily be able to ask you all to respond to all the questions, so we will keep an eye on the chat function in order to make sure that you can come in with a response. In some cases, committee members may direct questions to some of you. I hope that that has been clear on how we are going to try to do this hybrid meeting.

I will kick off with a general question that explores the theme of the pandemic and recovery. What are the biggest challenges for local government and communities over the next few years, and what main lessons have been learned from the past 18 months? The clerk will have to guide me as we get the R system sorted out. I would love to hear from Kim Fellows and then Sarah Gadsden.

Thank you. I now invite Paul O’Brien to comment, followed by David Allan.

Paul, you are on mute.

Okay. Great.

Thank you . It is good to know that that exists.

Yes, if Paul wants to come in, he can, and then we will go to Kim Fellows.

At last week’s meeting, we heard that there is an historical identification with that connectivity: people come from the islands and connect to Oban. They like that. It is interesting that that did not come up when you sought views on the matter.

If the Parliament were to reject one or more of the regulations, what would Boundaries Scotland do next?

That is the end of our questions. We very much appreciate you coming along, sharing the work that you have been doing and getting us excited about methodology. Thank you so much for being with us.

We will take the next two items in private.

I thank the witnesses for coming today. It is good to hear about the challenges that you face, and I am interested in hearing about your approach to the climate and ecological crisis.

As we know, Scotland’s seas play a key role in the climate by storing carbon, but they are susceptible to a number of threats through our activity. That activity includes bottom-contact and mid-water fishing, which is the most geographically widespread and direct pressure on our marine environment. Commercial fishing also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, although I heard in introductions from some of the witnesses that that is perhaps less the case.

We are considering the impacts of ocean acidification, sea level rise and the changing ecology, about which we heard from Elspeth Macdonald when she spoke about the fish moving further north. I want to say from the outset that I am looking for a long-term future for fishing. How do we move from what we are doing right now—overfishing—to a more sustainable practice? I would love to hear the witnesses’ views on what a just transition would mean for the fishing industry and coastal communities.

I am curious to hear the witnesses’ thoughts on other stakeholders, such as community groups and tourism businesses—people whose livelihoods depend on marine biodiversity—joining the regional inshore fisheries group meetings. Charles Millar touched on the groups’ limited membership earlier. I am curious to hear about opening that up.

On the environmental impact of salmon farming, I am also curious to hear the witnesses’ views on further regulation of that sector of aquaculture.