Chamber and committees

A range of treatment options are set out in the bill. Do you think that the bill effectively integrates harm reduction approaches within the proposed options?

A lot of work has already been invested in the MAT standards and the alcohol and drug partnerships. That work is complex and requires trauma-informed practice, and there is variation according to the individual circumstances that have led someone to seek, or not seek, assistance to either reduce harm or pursue abstinence. Will the MAT standards still work under the bill, or will they have to be ripped up in favour of something else?

My questions have been answered.

Okay. Thank you.

It might be that somebody is holding down a job, has a family or has other things going on and might not like the word “addiction”. Would a person not qualify for treatment if that language had not been used in any of their diagnostic case notes or anything like that?

On standards across the country, I know that people who are in the Borders get their residential care in Carlisle, or elsewhere south of the border. Would “across the country” mean Scotland only? How would that work with the cross-border requirements that are already part of people’s residential recovery?

Will the member accept an intervention?

I welcome the motion from the cabinet secretary, and the opportunity to highlight how the south of Scotland is in the premier league when it comes to food and drink in Scotland and the world. The south of Scotland has some of the best produce in the world, which is prepared by some of the best chefs and kitchen staff into some of the finest food and drink in the world.

I have spoken about many of the wonderful producers and restaurants in previous debates in the chamber. We also make whisky in the south of Scotland: at Bladnoch distillery near Wigtown, Annandale distillery at Annan, and the Borders distillery at Hawick, and now also at the Crafty distillery at Newton Stewart and, of course, Moffat distillery. They all produce some very fine whiskies, with an increasingly positive global reputation.

However, that reputation was—and maybe still is—in danger of being harmed through the unfathomable actions of the UK Government recently, with its proposals to create a geographical indication for English whisky and slip in changes to the malt whisky definition through the back door. The Scotch Whisky Association has slammed that proposal—thank goodness that it was spotted and called out. Single malt means product from one distillery, both mashing and distillation—not just mashing it anywhere and then bringing it in and distilling it in one place.

Just last week, we saw a slew of nominations for south of Scotland agribusinesses at the Scottish Countryside Alliance awards. Rachael Hamilton mentioned some of them already, such as Scott’s of Kelso. I will add: Five Kingdoms Brewery from the Isle of Whithorn, the Ship Inn at Drummore, and the Selkirk Arms Hotel in Kirkcudbright, among others. They were all nominated for awards.

I also could not miss the opportunity to plug the Stranraer oyster festival, which will take place this September. It was first held in 2017 and now attracts more than 20,000 visitors every year. It is a huge boon to the local economy, and a tribute to the hard work of the Stranraer Development Trust and its partners in developing such a successful event. I know that the cabinet secretary is familiar with oysters and the oyster festival and has visited it on a number of occasions. The oyster festival shows the kind of innovation that takes place in our food and drink sector across the south, with support from the Scottish Government and South of Scotland Enterprise and other agencies.

I acknowledge the work of Richard Lochhead, in shaping the Government’s direction towards promoting the high end of the food and drink markets. During his tenure as Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment, he saw the huge potential in ensuring that Scotland’s leading rural food and drink sector was recognised globally for its quality. A decade on, those efforts are now being led by the current cabinet secretary, who is sitting in front of me. I am pleased that it is demonstrably clear that Scotland’s food and drink sector is a global leader.

However, it is not only at the high-rolling end of the market that the south of Scotland is doing well.

I do not think that I have time. I normally take interventions, but the time remaining is short and I want to cover the many notes that I made during other members’ speeches.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Arla Foods gave a massive vote of confidence to the Dumfriesshire economy, with the news that it will create up to 90 jobs at its Lockerbie dairy processing facility as it expands for the future. Dumfries and Galloway is the core of Scotland’s dairy industry. As the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity told me at portfolio question time the other week, the Scottish Government is helping to support Arla’s continued success.

The events in Ukraine over the past three years have shown the perils of our relying so heavily on food imports. Before the war, 50 per cent of world sunflower oil production happened in Ukraine, and 18 per cent of barley and 12 per cent of wheat came from Ukraine. The Russian invasion has meant that prices for those basic foodstuffs have shot through the roof and at times obtaining supplies has been precarious. Food security is absolutely a concern, so it is good to hear the cabinet secretary mention that. We need a strong and vibrant food and drink sector domestically, not only because it supports tens of thousands of rural jobs but because it reduces our reliance on overseas imports that, as we have seen, can stop or slow down at the whim of a dictator such as President Putin.

We have a booming food and drink sector in Scotland, despite the weight of Brexit hanging around the necks of the whole industry. Members should be clear that restored membership of the EU and the customs union, in line with the express will of the people of Scotland, is, in both the short and the long term, in the best interests of our economy. It is to the shame of the main parties at Westminster that they are simply not interested in carrying out the will of the people of Scotland.

Those who campaigned to tear Scotland out of the EU should apologise to every farmer, every agriculture business and every food and drink producer in the land for the increased costs and the red tape that their disastrous kamikaze Brexit has imposed. As President Trump rampages across international trade and tariff policies, the UK is now uniquely exposed to his irrational wrath, unlike the EU, which is able to work collectively to protect its food production agri-industries.

It is a tribute to the tenacity, ingenuity and hard work of those food and drink businesses that they are maintaining their high quality, but we all know that Brexit has prevented them from being able to go that extra mile and ramp things up to the next level. I am grateful that we have a Scottish Government that has done its level best, within the straitjacket of Westminster diktat, to minimise the harms that Brexit has caused and to stand up for the food and drink industry in Scotland and especially in the south of our country.

The issue of the Scotch whisky definition being changed as a result of the proposal for a definition of English whisky concerns me as well. Will the cabinet secretary confirm her understanding of what the proposal is?