Chamber and committees

Mr Greene has a final question. Please be super-quick, Mr Greene.

Before we move on to the subject of prisons, I want to pick up on something that I think you said, cabinet secretary, about the rationalisation of fire stations. Can you expand on what that might mean? The thought that came into my head was that it might include the closure of stations, but perhaps you can correct that for me.

I will hand over to Collette Stevenson and then Russell Findlay. I would like to bring this session to a close at 11:30. We have a few additional issues to pick up, so we will see how much we get through, given the time. I ask for succinct questions and answers.

Thank you. I will bring in Russell Findlay and then Collette Stevenson.

I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests: I, too, am a councillor on Aberdeen City Council.

I am pleased to see that Aberdeen harbour is one of the proposed national developments included in the draft NPF4. Will the minister outline the role that the Government envisages the harbour playing in the transition to net zero and in stimulating economic investment in the north-east?

What steps are being taken to ensure that policing by consent and a rights-based approach continue to form the core of policing practice?

I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate and I thank other members for their contributions.

As a child, I spent every Saturday morning being dragged to Aberdeen fish market, where my father, who was then an accountant in the fishing industry—there seems to be a theme here—stood staring at landing prices on a big chalk board. Then, as now, we took this wonderful food source for granted.

The 2021 coastal state negotiations are a crucial event for Scotland’s fish producers and processors and the wider supply chain, as well as being an important forum in which to discuss how coastal states can work together to ensure that the fishing industry is sustainable in the long term. The UK Government’s decision to impose a hard Brexit during a pandemic has, predictably, made the negotiations harder than they would otherwise have been.

Across Scotland, more than 12,000 people are employed in the fishing and processing industries and, in 2018, those industries were worth more than £2.2 billion. According to Peter Cook from Opportunity North East, the turnover of the local seafood processing sector is around £700 million per annum—it accounts for 32 per cent of total north-east food and drink sales. I am proud that my constituency of Aberdeen South and North Kincardine is home to several local processing businesses.

Recently, I spent small business week meeting local businesses in the constituency, including two long-standing family-run processing businesses that produce speciality products using fish that is sourced from across Scotland. Both those businesses are key parts of the local economy. They employ skilled local workers, supply the local food and drink sector and export their products as far afield as China.

However, things have been rough for those businesses. Both found themselves navigating the Covid-19 pandemic when along came the disaster of Brexit and the resultant uncertainty over workforce availability, export cost increases and diminishing export markets. Despite that, the businesses have shown extraordinary resilience. In September, John Ross, master curer and smoker, celebrated its gold star award from the Guild of Fine Food for its whisky smoked salmon. J Charles, a third-generation family-run business, made the brave decision to expand its online business during the pandemic, remaining open and building up online deliveries. That is now a thriving part of its business.

At the most recent meeting of the north-east Scotland fisheries development partnership, Mike Park of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association updated us on the challenges that quota constraints, loss of access to fishing grounds in Norway and fear were having on the industry. The importance of the coastal negotiations, therefore, cannot be underestimated if we are to continue to have a thriving processing sector. According to Andrew Charles, it is absolutely vital that robust, sustainable science supports the total allowable catch agreed and that the total accountability of the stock catch is properly managed and policed.

As an independent coastal state, it is therefore vital that we have a robust and independent fisheries management force. The failure of the UK Government to build good working relationships with our nearest and most important quota trading partners will, regrettably, require robust policing. In that regard, I ask the UK Government to provide clarity around what increases in fishery protection might have to be budgeted for now that we cannot rely on European co-operation.

Never has there been a time when these negotiations have been more important, and never has there been a time when the case for independence has been so evident. I look forward to working with the cabinet secretary to ensure that the negotiations are a success for all who are involved in the sector, and especially for businesses in Aberdeen South and North Kincardine.

I acknowledge that call-out numbers were down this year, but much work still needs to be done. What progress has the Scottish Government made in implementing the recommendations of the independent fireworks review group, to ensure that fireworks are used safely and appropriately?

We move on to the issue of Covid deaths, with questions from Russell Findlay.

Do you want to turn to the issue of fatal accident inquiries, Russell?