Seòmar agus comataidhean

Item 2 is consideration of the Scottish Government’s 2022-23 budget. I welcome to the meeting Mairi Gougeon, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands; Caro Cowan, the head of European Union exit at Marine Scotland; and, from the Scottish Government, Shiree Donnelly, the head of finance; James Muldoon, the head of the agriculture support policy development unit; and Philip Raines, the interim deputy director of the rural economy and communities directorate.

I ask the cabinet secretary to give an opening statement.

I am asking specifically about the common frameworks.

I want to look at the impact of the common frameworks on, in particular, the future of Scottish agricultural policy. We have been told that consideration will be given to the role that the Parliament might have in the on-going monitoring and scrutiny of the frameworks, post implementation. In the previous parliamentary session, the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee raised concerns about the lack of transparency around the development of the common frameworks. What specific role is there for stakeholder engagement and parliamentary scrutiny in the process of putting together those common frameworks, particularly when it comes to the exclusion of certain provisions from the internal market access principles?

More specifically, what exactly is your understanding of Parliament’s role in scrutinising the development of the common frameworks? What will Parliament’s role be in the scrutiny process in future? What has that meant in the past, and what will it mean in the future?

I thank you for that answer but, specifically, what is your understanding of how, in practice, the Government will engage with the Parliament with regard to future frameworks that revolve around Scottish agricultural policy? In practice, how will you engage with the committee?

There are two brief supplementaries on this topic from Rachael Hamilton and Jim Fairlie.

Jim, I suggest that your questions might be more appropriately addressed to the UK Government minister when he appears in front of the committee instead of to the cabinet secretary. She obviously does not have that information in front of her.

Yes. Go ahead.

Good morning, and welcome to the 15th meeting in 2021 of the Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee. Before we begin, I remind committee members who are using electronic devices to switch them to silent.

Our first item of business was to have been consideration of two notifications from Scottish ministers for consent to two United Kingdom statutory instruments. However, the cabinet secretary has written to the committee to confirm that the Scottish Government has withdrawn the notification for the Official Controls (Extension of Transitional Periods) (Amendment) (No 2) Regulations 2021, as it now intends to make provision via a Scottish statutory instrument. The clerks circulated the letter to members on its receipt. Members will note that the SSI will need to come into effect by 1 January.

As no member has any comments on the withdrawal of that statutory instrument, we have only one notification to consider today, which is for the Approved Country Lists (Animals and Animal Products) (Amendment) (No 2) Regulations 2021. I refer members to papers 1 and 2, which are on pages 3 to 14 of our papers pack.

Under the protocol between the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government, the consent notification has been categorised as type 1, meaning that the Scottish Parliament’s agreement is sought before the Scottish Government gives consent to the UK Government’s laying the instruments. Members will note that the clerks sought further information from officials in advance of today’s meeting, and that information has been circulated to members.

In our response to the Scottish Government, I suggest that the committee should ask it to clarify whether the trade agreements with Ukraine and Australia specify a timeframe within which changes to import restrictions must be made, as is set out in paragraph 31 on page 12.

The Scottish Parliament has not been given the full 28-day scrutiny period in which to consider the notification. The Scottish Government claims that the SI must be made quickly in order not to impact on the UK’s trade relations with Australia and the Ukraine. The notification does not, however, make clear how a delay of a few weeks to allow the appropriate parliamentary scrutiny of the regulations would negatively impact on trade relations. I would like to put on the record my strong concerns about the lack of time available for meaningful parliamentary scrutiny in relation to the instrument. On this occasion, the terms of the protocol have not been met.

Does any member have any comments on the consent notification for the SI?

That is right. We want clarification as to why the delay will negatively impact on the trade relations. We need to have that clarified.