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I will ask Iain Wallace to come in with more information on that. I know that Marine Scotland is working on its delivery plan for the coming year at the moment, so I will be able to provide more information after the meeting.

The enforcement capability that you are talking about is vital. The committee will, no doubt, be aware of the vessels and enforcement capabilities that we have. We have two aeroplanes, three marine protection vessels and two science vessels. In the current financial year, we have invested in two rigid inflatable boats, which cost in the region of £250,000. We are continuing to invest in that capability.

Even if we were to increase that resource, however, there is no way in which we could patrol or police the marine environment along the whole coastline of Scotland, because of its sheer scale. I provided the committee with information previously on how we undertake enforcement. We use a risk-based system that is based on the intelligence that we receive, and that dictates how we task those vessels and where they go.

I hope that that provides a bit more information. I think that we have also moved to a system of proactively publishing the information on what we are doing on compliance, vessel boardings and things like that.

I will hand over to Iain, who might be able to provide some more information.

First, I absolutely appreciate and understand what you say about connectivity and so on. The spend across other portfolios on things such as transport and housing is vital to that. We need to make sure that we are tackling those issues, and the national islands plan really brings all of that together to see how we can tackle them as a whole. There is no easy solution to any of this, so we have to work across the piece on it.

Your main question was about—

Again, I would be happy to come back to the committee and provide the list of projects and successful applicants to the fund this year, if that would be helpful. Some changes were made to the marine fund Scotland. It is the second year in which we have run it, and it is always interesting to get feedback. If you hear anything in relation to further adaptations that we need to make to the scheme, I am more than happy to consider that feedback. We obviously want to make sure that the scheme aligns with our blue economy vision and our ambitions in that regard. We funded 60 projects this year with a budget of £14.5 million, and that levered in about an extra £39 million as a result. That is a huge amount.

In December, I met the Clyde Fishermen’s Trust to discuss the vision document that you talked about. I am looking at that at the moment, and I want to go through it in more detail. I am keen to work with the trust.

I am happy to come back and provide the specifics on what has been funded through the scheme so far. I am also happy to take any suggestions as to how the scheme can be improved for future years.

As the fisheries minister, I am acutely aware of the issues that the industry faces and I have touched on them in my previous responses. I will continue to highlight the support that we have available, which will continue. The marine fund Scotland is an example of that support. I also touched on the work that we are taking forward on the blue economy and the outcomes that we will see from that. The food that our fishers provide is vital, and we want to continue to make the most of it.

It is also important to remind the committee of the economic link that has been introduced, because we want to see the value from what is caught in Scotland being landed into Scotland. We touched on offshore renewables and the HPMA network, but I would not want the committee to take from that that fisheries are not equally important in the discussions. They are, and it is my role to ensure that they remain as such.

I am happy to come back to you with more detail on that. There are other figures in that table. The figure of £33 million relates to the convergence, and a figure of about £30 million relates to Marine Scotland and the agriculture and rural economy directorate. There was a mixture of recruitment control across the portfolio.

I do not know whether Iain Wallace can provide more information on the figure for Marine Scotland.

Yes.

I make the point at the outset that, as you say, the spend cuts across other portfolio areas. The islands spend in my portfolio is not exclusive; it is not all the islands funding that exists. There is spend in other portfolios as well.

I appeared before the committee just before the summer last year to give evidence on the national islands plan, which sets out our strategic objectives, and we are taking forward work against each of them. You mentioned the particular challenge of employment. With Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland, we have provided £250,000 of funding for a project that is looking at employment and retention on islands. We have also funded a post at the University of the Highlands and Islands to look at how it can strengthen its connections with key island partners.

There is that specific funding but, again, I am more than happy to come back to the committee with further information, particularly looking across portfolios to some of the other spend.

The feedback that we have had from that has been really positive. We obviously want to take any learning from that example and share it as best we can. Officials are looking at that work and at how we can share good practice with other authorities that, as you say, cover a mixture of the mainland and islands—Argyll and Bute Council and Highland Council, in particular. We are actively looking at that.

I say again that it is really difficult. The budget is an annual process, so we do not have that certainty until the budget is passed and we receive the annual allocation. What we have seen through the resource spending review and the capital spending review is the overall funding envelopes that we might hope to receive over the period, which give an indication as to what allocations we might look to have.

We have been through a couple of iterations of the islands programme. I hope that, with the changes that we are proposing for this year, we will get the balance right in how the scheme runs and we will see that continue, which will help to resolve some of the issues.

Our focus is on the capital grant scheme, but, as you mentioned, not all businesses are the same, which is why our other funds are really important. Businesses vary across Scotland, so the support that we offer needs to be flexible in response to that.

That particular fund had to be targeted for the reasons that I have outlined. The other schemes that we have are really important in enabling transformation and allowing people to take part in that, as you have outlined.

AECS is an example of that. As I mentioned, we have £36 million for that for the coming financial year. Through those funds and through our work on the national test programme, we are encouraging people to take part in soil testing, as George Burgess outlined, and to undertake carbon audits. We are looking to incentivise people to undertake those practices as much as we possibly can and to fund that where we can. However, AECS is one scheme that we have to target where we think that it will have the biggest effect.