Seòmar agus comataidhean

As I outlined in relation to FMPs, various things can happen that officials have to deal with after we have set out our initial timelines for work, which means that they cannot progress that work in the way that they would have done. We try to deal with the various pressures as and when they arise while still delivering on the programme of work that we have set out.

I talked about some of the enforcement activity and inspections that are carried out, and I think that that is what has led to the proactive publishing of that information, because there were concerns around that. We want to be open and transparent about the level of inspections that take place, so the decision has been taken to proactively publish that information. It makes sense that we judge those things when they arise.

Absolutely. The places that are affected do not even have to be that remote. I know of areas literally on the outskirts of towns, particularly in my constituency, that have not had access to that broadband through the roll-out. We have committed to expanding the programme, through our own funding, to extend its reach as much as possible. In this day and age, digital connectivity is such a basic thing. If we want to enable more people to live and work in rural Scotland and across our islands, we need to do what we can to improve digital connectivity.

I know, but you have raised those areas in the PFG as ones that have not been completed, whereas it is important to outline that, as a matter of fact, they have been completed.

We have published the rural and islands housing action plan, and it is about the delivery of that plan. Housing is a hugely important matter for our islands and across the rest of rural Scotland.

I hope that you can appreciate that I am not responsible for a number of those policy areas, but part of my role is to ensure that we work across Government so that my other colleagues deliver on them.

I touched on the rural delivery plan. One of its key objectives is to ensure that we make evidence-based decisions and can track our progress, which is why our work on the key performance indicators will be important, as that will help to measure progress and make things generally a lot more transparent.

That all needs to be taken into consideration, and there are a few important points to outline in that regard. Some of the funding that had been returned for capital went directly to support programmes such as the croft house grant scheme and the crofting agricultural grant scheme. We want to ensure that that money is used for the benefit of our farmers and crofters.

We have had the national test programme—the preparing for sustainable farming programme—which I outlined. We have been supporting carbon audits to help businesses to get a better understanding of their baselines and performance in order to ensure that they achieve efficiencies from that and learn from the work that they have undertaken. It has been really helpful to utilise that work. Again, everything is subject to discussion and we do not know what future allocations will be. However, we will continue to engage with stakeholders in the development of any proposals for the use of that funding in the future.

—from the ring-fenced funding that is still to be returned? I know that that is hugely important for farmers and crofters. It is ring fenced and is being returned to the portfolio. I cannot tell you right now exactly what that will be spent on or how it will be utilised, because that is the subject of discussions with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, to work out the profiling of when that funding will be returned.

I would have to follow that up with the committee, because that area falls to Siobhian Brown in the community safety aspect of her role. I would be happy to do so and to provide more information to the committee.

On specific measures, as I said, we published some of the areas that we were considering and have set out examples of measures that could be implemented and could work—we are not covering all areas at the moment, but that is based on the information and science that we have. We are very much looking to get feedback on what should be included in tier 2. Further, earlier this year, we stated that we were looking to develop various pilot projects on the use of methane inhibitors; that is another example.

As I said, the information about those measures that we have published is not definitive and the plan is still a work in progress, so it is not possible for me to commit to what will be in it.

Yes, and a lot of work can be done to improve that situation. Some of the issues that you outlined, such as planting on deep peat, have been dealt with through the updates to the UK forestry standard that I mentioned.

The species diversity percentage has increased, and the maximum percentage of a single species in a planting scheme has reduced from 75 per cent to 65 per cent. There are also updates in relation to planting on peat.

The industry had some concerns about some of what had been expressed in the report. Scottish Forestry was disappointed not to have been engaged in the report process, but engagement since then has been positive in producing discussions.

What is important in all of that is that we need a mix. Our native planting is hugely important, as is our productive forestry. As with everything, it is about ensuring that we get the balance right. However, our productive sector is critical for all the reasons that we have outlined today and because of the wider economic impact, too.

Yes—there would be more of that mix. As I said, that is part of the new UK forestry standard that will apply. The proportion of single species has gone down from 75 per cent to 65 per cent as part of that new standard.

Forestry now is very different from how it was in previous generations and decades. It is not planned, implemented or planted in the same way as it would have been generations ago. It is important to recognise the improvements that have been made through that process.

However, it is also like many other areas—we are constantly looking to improve. Some of the discussions that we had as part of the bill process were helpful in setting some of that out. Community engagement is also hugely important. We are looking at how we can improve that—for example, we are working with the guidance that has been provided by the Scottish Land Commission.

We are constantly striving to improve wider engagement, and we also want to ensure that we have productive forestry. We know that productive forestry has a positive impact on our emissions, as does our wider native planting and some of the newer science. Getting that mix right is critical.