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Before we move to the next item of business, I call Gillian Martin for a point of order.
Thank you, Presiding Officer—I appreciate the opportunity to clarify for the record an issue that came up in an exchange between myself and Mercedes Villalba in yesterday’s stage 3 proceedings.
In that exchange, Ms Villalba said that I would not work with her despite having offered to do so. In fact, I met Ms Villalba, with various Government officials, to discuss stage 3 amendments twice: on 27 November and 7 January. In addition, I provided a detailed letter setting out my position in relation to issues that she had raised on invasive non-native species. Yesterday, therefore, in my response to her contribution on amendment 61, I was able to say that I did, in fact, work with her.
As a result of our discussion on the Sitka spruce issue with the chief executive of Scottish Forestry on 27 November, I was able to arrange for a suitable amendment to be drafted by forestry officials and agreed with Mairi Gougeon that would address Ms Villalba’s concerns. Ms Villalba agreed to that at the time. When the amendment was finalised, Mairi Gougeon discussed it separately, and further, with Mercedes Villalba, given that the solution lay in Ms Gougeon’s portfolio.
In addition, Ms Villalba indicated that I had gone back on a commitment to her about working together on an amendment to add additional restrictions on the current powers to exempt species from relevant provisions of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
I point out that, if the context of my comments at stage 2 is considered in full, it is clear that my commitment to work with the member ahead of stage 3 was in relation to a different amendment. That amendment, which I discussed with her, was about placing a new requirement for any species listed in that exemption order to have a management strategy in place.
I hope that that clarifies the situation.
Thank you, Ms Martin.