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Good morning to the panel. I will start my questions by asking about the economic opportunity of closing the disability employment gap. Chirsty, has the Fraser of Allander Institute done any analysis of the impact on our economy of closing that gap?

I have lodged amendment 44 because I believe that it would be a missed opportunity if we did not consider how the provisions of the bill would support the objectives of the forthcoming good food nation plan. I listened to the cabinet secretary and, to me, there is an assumption that the objectives of the good food nation plan will be met by the provisions of this bill. However, my amendment would create a statutory duty for ministers to ensure that the provisions of the bill support the good food nation plan and a further statutory duty to work cross-portfolio to make sure that that is delivered.

The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 created a statutory duty on ministers to produce a national good food nation plan and lay it before the Parliament. There are similar relevant issues in this bill. Each part of the food system’s supply chain plays an important role in the provision of food. A sustainable food system and supply chain can contribute to the mitigation of climate change, halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity and improve animal welfare, and high-quality, nutritious and culturally appropriate food can improve people’s physical health and mental wellbeing. It is important that the food business sector continues to be a thriving part of the Scottish economy, that its supply chains are resilient and that it contributes to resilient local economies across Scotland.

My colleague Edward Mountain has proposed to shorten the period of time for the rural support plan period from five years to two years. The good food nation plan is to be reviewed every two years and revised every five years. Aligning the bill with the good food nation plan would create confidence for agricultural businesses, because it would help them to understand the Government’s long-term objectives. I find it completely illogical that there would be any chance that the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill and the good food nation plan would be at odds with each other. We need to link the Good Food Nation Act (Scotland) 2022 with the bill to support food producers by aligning the bill’s provisions with the good food nation plan.

I do not wish to ruin the cabinet secretary’s political career by saying this, but we agree on much of what is in the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 and the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill. However, we cannot assume that future Parliaments will look at the issue in as much depth as we have, so it is really important that the plan in the 2022 act is put in the bill to ensure that the bill and the 2022 act are aligned. There is no logic to not doing that.

I will change tack a little with my next question. Last week, the committee heard from some young people about their journeys to employment, and we heard that many young people face a number of steps before they get to employment. We asked them about their experiences at school, and many of them said that their experiences were poor or even traumatic. We also heard about their interaction with the DWP and that they did not have the appropriate skills, and some said that they got to employment through a third sector organisation. Are we joining up the dots enough? Are we supporting young people early enough? Schools and the DWP cannot provide all the skills that they will need, but are we catching them early enough to help them on that journey?

I am trying to move on from what I was asking earlier this morning about employability services. Is there an offer to reach out into the disabled community? We have heard from you and from many other organisations about the fantastic work that is being done, yet we have comparatively high unemployment in the disability community. We heard last week from some youngsters who have got into employment and have reached positive destinations. We heard about the journey. You mentioned the journey that they go on, especially those with neurological and learning difficulties. We heard about some of their difficulties at school, and some of their experiences were not great. We also heard about their experiences at the DWP with people who wanted to help but did not know quite how to do so. It was by chance that they got into a third sector organisation that was able to gather them and get them ready for employment. It is about the joined-up thinking about the journey of all our young people but very specifically those in the disability community. Are we reaching into schools enough? Are we on the journey with them from an early enough stage?

To try to draw a circle around that, would it be a fair assumption to say that you are looking for more specialist employability services in the disability community? Is that a fair assessment?

Good morning. We have heard today, and in previous evidence sessions when we have spoken to the young people involved, about many of the great services that are available, but we have a comparatively high level of unemployment among our disability communities. Are employability services in Scotland managing to reach out to enough people in our disability communities in order to tackle the issue?

I will bring Philip Ritchie in, but something that interests me is how we utilise the third sector as a resource in this area. How easy is that, especially given the stringent funding constraints?

Oxana MacGregor-Gunn, to develop that point, are schools aware enough of what is available to them? Are the DWP and employers aware of what is available to them to help our children through that journey?

I have held a couple of events with employers in my communities to get them to understand what support is available to them when bringing disabled people into the workforce. I was surprised by how little they knew, at the outset, about what is available to them, so are we missing a trick here?

Food procurement is an area where there can be false economy if we let those who are in charge of the purse strings have too much influence, although I do not want to give accountants a bad name. Is there a specific drag on how we ensure that councils can afford good nutritious local food through the procurement process?