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The term “ring fenced” means that the money must be spent on those specific areas—that is, agriculture, agricultural support and marine funding. I do not know whether Craig Stewart has any specific points to make in that respect.

As for what will happen with funding, we have to continually monitor our budget throughout the year. Obviously, I cannot tell you at the moment what will come along—after all, we are just at the start of this year’s budget process—but there is no getting around the fact that we are in very challenging financial circumstances. There are difficult situations that we will have to look at in my portfolio—and, indeed, in other portfolios across Government, because we have to present a balanced budget—and I cannot say definitively that we will not be making any savings from or adjustments to ring-fenced funding here.

However, I come back to my earlier point that anything that might be offered from ring-fenced funding has to be returned to the portfolio in future years. Indeed, the £33 million that we have already discussed will be the subject of discussion with finance on when it will be returned to the portfolio.

I do not know whether Craig Stewart or George Burgess wants to come in.

The whole of the Scottish Government has to present a balanced budget. I reiterate what I have said previously about the decisions that we have to take in this portfolio, and in others across Government: we have to ensure that we have a balanced budget at the end of the day. That is incumbent on all of us and we all share that challenge. We had the emergency budget review last year because we had to take emergency measures to ensure that we were helping people and using resources as best as we could, especially as the cost crisis was affecting people in our communities.

Well, it does. In particular, the £33 million must be returned to the portfolio so the ring fencing does mean something.

Again, I cannot tell you what will be in the budget next year, because we have not started that process yet.

Again, because that relates to on-going court action, we are not able to comment on it.

I understand the point that you are trying to get to, but I hope that you understand why I would be uncomfortable about saying anything in that regard, given the action that is currently on-going. Once that action is complete, I will be happy to write to the committee with full information.

Yes, absolutely. As I said in response to Alasdair Allan’s point, housing is, without a doubt, one of the key issues that I hear about whenever I visit islands. There are job opportunities—sometimes plenty of them—on islands, but the lack of infrastructure to allow people to live there is what holds people back. It is a huge issue that we must address.

I do not want to pre-empt what will come through the remote, rural and islands housing action plan, but it will give a real focus to that work. I want to ensure that, across our public bodies, we are making the most of our estate.

I think that I have spoken in the committee before about the visit that I undertook to Colonsay, which had a partnership with the company Mowi, which was looking to invest in housing there. I think that the idea was to build six houses, which is huge for the island and really important. I spoke to people there who work in the aquaculture industry, which is based in some of the most remote and rural parts of Scotland and which can have a big economic impact in those areas. It is really important that, where we see those emerging industries, we continue to work in partnership with them to see what more we can provide.

We also should not underestimate the power and potential of initiatives that are undertaken by the community, and a number of projects are under way to enhance that work. For example, going back to land reform and community ownership, the work that has been undertaken through the community ownership of Ulva has had an impact—its population has doubled. All of that is community driven, and we should not underestimate such huge opportunities.

I am not responsible for SDS, but it is important that we work together across Government to address such challenges. In my previous response, I did not mention our establishment of the commission for the land-based learning review. Other reviews have taken place around the skills landscape, including the Withers review. I will work with my colleagues to consider the outcome and recommendations of each of those reviews to see how we can address those issues as a whole. It is not as if portfolios will work in isolation, because we know that we need to address particular gaps in our islands and rural areas. We want more people to come into the sectors that are important for those areas.

Absolutely.

Sorry—do you mean in relation to the future framework, once it is fully in place?