That was my first mistake.
I thank the committee for giving me an opportunity to speak this morning. I know that we had a meeting earlier this year about the strategy that we published in March, entitled “Ambition 2030”. It articulated our view that there is, as Peter Chapman said, an opportunity to grow the industry to twice its current size. Within that strategy, there are some clear strands for us around market development in our domestic and overseas markets, and there are three major capability-building areas: skills, innovation and the supply chain.
Over the past 10 years, we have operated quite a deep partnership between the industry and the public sector, which has worked well. It is fair to say that there is a good level of contentment in the industry about the funding that is going into the sector.
The situation is more complex in Scotland than it is in other countries. In Ireland and New Zealand, for example, there is one figurehead public sector body, through which all the funding that goes into the farming, fishing and food and drink sectors is spearheaded. In Scotland, we have a more complex landscape with a number of public sector actors and industry bodies, but we have developed a close way of working.
Our view is that prioritisation of funding for the sector will be absolutely critical, going forward. However, it is difficult to put a number on that funding: the industry has found that to be a challenge. The Scottish Parliament information centre has made a good attempt at understanding the funding that exists in different places, but it would be helpful to have greater clarity about the areas of funding and the scale of investment. However, for us, it is essential that investment be prioritised across four areas: market development, skills, innovation and supply chain.
I will mention one area that is worth looking at, which I think I spoke about when the committee had a meeting on the strategy earlier this year. A few years ago, in the rural economy budget, as it is now called, there was no food and drink industry development budget line at all. It did not exist. It is welcome that we now have one, but it is modest and currently sits at about £6 million. Given that we have an ambition for growth of about £14 billion or £15 billion over the next 10 to 15 years, it is worth thinking about that development budget.
The fund has been used well in recent years, and it has a level of flexibility. As part of the strategy, a new funding agreement has been reached between industry and the Government that involves £10 million of industry and Government money. I would like that budget line to move northwards, because over the next year the action planning that we will carry out on the key priority areas will identify flagship initiatives and gaps in delivery. It might be a bit frustrating for the committee to hear that I do not yet have a top five things that we would like to invest money in, but the work is being done now: if we can move that budget line northwards as we identify opportunities and priorities, we will not lose a year trying to make a funding case—we will have funding earmarked to allow us to move quickly in a fast-changing environment.
I have more detail on particular market opportunities, but I will leave it there for the moment.