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There are powers in the bill to cap, refuse or recover support payments when those would not be in the public interest. On what type of occasion would you envisage using those powers?

That raises a huge number of other questions. Who will decide whether someone is a proper person or whether they have used the money as intended? That seems very broad.

That would all be covered under a public interest test, would it?

We heard that some land that probably required more financial assistance was receiving the lowest level of support. Do you see that changing following your review?

Given some of the evidence that the committee saw during our visit on Monday, is there anything in the bill that would stop people from accessing funds to buy shared equipment? We saw some great equipment during our visit, but for small-scale farming and crofting, it seems that it is only affordable if it is purchased jointly. Is there anything in the bill that would stop grazing committees or co-operatives from coming together to apply for funds for shared equipment? Would that have an impact on their ordinary agricultural funding applications?

Yes. You are defining the food production that you would support as being high quality.

I am wondering what would fall foul of the definition of “high-quality food”. Why does the bill not just say “the production of food”, full stop? The inclusion of the term “high-quality” must be there for a purpose and I want to understand what would fall foul of that definition.

We knew that we needed a lawyer.

Okay. Thank you.

It does not make a huge amount of sense to me, if I am being frank. My region includes areas of the country where food production is really tough. Quite often, for instance, sheep go elsewhere for finishing. If you are comparing the quality of a sheep coming off the hill and going elsewhere for finishing with one that is being reared on good-quality land, does that create a problem? I am concerned that the interpretation of what is “high-quality” in the future could cause huge problems for some areas.