Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning, and welcome to the 23rd meeting in 2024 of the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee. I ask members and those who are joining us to ensure that all electronic devices are switched to silent, please. We have received apologies from Colin Beattie, Beatrice Wishart and Elena Whitham, and I welcome Christine Grahame, who is attending as a substitute.

Our first item of business is an evidence session with the Scottish Government to conclude our pre-budget scrutiny of the 2025-26 Scottish budget. We have about two hours for the discussion. I welcome Mairi Gougeon, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, who is supported by Scottish Government officials George Burgess, who is the director of agriculture and rural economy; Brendan Callaghan, who is the director of operational delivery for Scottish Forestry; Karen Morley, who is the head of agriculture and rural economy finance; Nuala Gormley, who is the deputy director of marine science, evidence, data and digital in the marine directorate; and Rebecca Hackett, who is the deputy director and portfolio lead for corporate strategy in the marine directorate.

Before we begin, I invite the cabinet secretary to make a brief opening statement.

Thank you very much. I will kick off with questions about the marine directorate. Will you explain the main purpose of the directorate’s recent restructuring? What difference should stakeholders expect to see in the delivery of fisheries policies?

Surely that will have a significant impact on some of the smaller abattoirs. Everybody will agree on the need for the inspections—and that situation is not changing—but we are talking about a significant rise in costs that might have an impact on smaller processors. In fact, one plant that I have been in contact with has suggested that its costs will increase by almost £20,000. That is not inconsiderable—indeed, it could put them over the edge.

The point is that we are making a decision today on whether to make any recommendation on the instrument, and we want to be sure that the Government has considered the potential adverse impact on small abattoirs. We know that we have a critical mass situation in Scotland, with our abattoirs, auction marts and so on worried about the cliff edge and the number of cattle that are going through. What were the Government’s considerations on that issue?

I call Rachael Hamilton.

Can I stop you there? We are straying off the budget. These are questions that were posed at a previous evidence session, so—

The lack of vets or anything like that has not had an impact; the increase is simply down to staffing and laboratory costs.

I have a couple of questions. Who evaluates the delivery of the service in Scotland? What is looked at in the evaluation? Prior to considering increasing the costs, was any additional work done to look at whether the service is being delivered efficiently? Were any mitigation measures considered before it was decided to increase the costs for industry?

The annual strategy—the annual plan that is set out.

You talked about assessments. We heard about the mismatch between what the Government wants the marine directorate to be and what it actually can be, given the resources. Mackerel is the most valuable stock for the Scottish fishing industry, accounting for a third of the value of total landings. There used to be a really strong pelagic team in the fisheries team in the marine lab, but the stock assessments are now being led by the Dutch, so people in the marine laboratory who have in the past invested a huge amount of interest in the fisheries are no longer doing that work.

The Government’s ambition and desire to be an international leader do not appear to be matched by available resources. That is almost a direct quote from what we heard during the round table. What is your response to that?

It would be helpful to find out exactly what the situation is, because I believe that there are also on-going discussions with the James Hutton Institute. It would be good to get a clear indication not only of the future of that site but of what has been put in place in the meantime.