Seòmar agus comataidhean

Okay. ESS is your regulator. It assesses whether you are enforcing regulations appropriately. It also advises on whether the law is appropriate, whether regulations need to be changed and whether regimes need to be amended, and on their compliance with EU law. That is my understanding. Is that your understanding?

Okay—thank you.

Do you have an example of that?

I have just one more question.

I thank you for responding on what is a difficult issue, given that there is a gap. In that case, is there anything that SEPA—with your limited resources, which I acknowledge—is able to do in this space by, say, promoting good practice with the farming sector? Would that be in any way effective in dealing with the kinds of issues that I have just raised with you?

It is a gap in relation to these regulations, is it not?

Okay, but you are a science-based organisation, so what does that tell you, as scientists, about ammonia levels? If ammonia levels are going up, would you see that as a failure of regulation?

That would be very welcome. Let me consider this from the perspective of a constituent. Let us say that I have a constituent who lives close to a dairy farm and that members of the family have particular lung health conditions that are exacerbated by particulates that are derived from ammonia. The family is looking for regulation, for answers to those problems and for action to be taken by the polluter. If they called your helpline, what information would you give them? Where do they sit in the authorisation framework?

We keep going back to your previous roles.

You have mentioned lotting a number of times. Before we leave that subject, does anyone want to reflect more on what is currently in the bill? We have heard a lot of comments from stakeholders about the lotting process. Do you want to comment on lotting?

Okay. I presume that Andrew Thin and Gary Campbell are not going to comment on that. I see that they are not.