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I have some reservations, but I appreciate your clarification.

That is helpful. So, we do not, at the minute, really have an idea of how that would work as an alternative system.

I have a tiny question. Do you know whether that has been implemented, given that the legislation was passed in 2016?

Okay, but it is not necessary.

You talked about your letter to the minister on this section of the bill. Have you had a response?

I do not know whether you have had any discussions with them about trying to pull all of that into a national register. Obviously they make money out of that—it is a commercial business.

You have not had a response yet—okay.

We are making the assumption that the Scottish Government would prefer a registration system based on microchipping. Do you have any idea of how that would work, and whether stakeholders would be happy with it?

I understand that. On the face of it, that appears to be simple. However, various organisations have microchipping registers—

In response to Kate Forbes’s questions, cabinet secretary, you seemed to make two points. The first is that there would have to be agreement from the industry to a price increase, and the other is that there would have to be consultation with the industry. Those two things are not the same thing—agreement is very different to consultation. Which is the correct response? Does the industry have to agree?

I do not think that I have any relevant interests but, for the record, I am a Unison member and a member of the Co-op Party.