Chamber and committees

I have just a quick question. We were quite baffled by the reasons that the bill team gave initially for including part 2 in the bill; indeed, the only example that they gave was the ability to digitise EIAs. Could guidance be used when it comes to digitising EIAs, or is primary legislation needed for that?

So, there might be some scope in that respect.

As we have no further questions, I thank Alan Hunt and Neil Langhorn very much for their succinct and helpful responses to our questions and for joining us this morning.

That concludes our business in public, so we will now move into private session.

The second item on our agenda is consideration of the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill at stage 1. Today, we will take evidence from a panel of planning and business representatives. I have a long list of people to welcome to the meeting: Jenny Munro from the Royal Town Planning Institute, who joins us remotely; Jacqueline Cook from the Scottish Property Federation; Sarah Cowie from NFU Scotland; Emily Johns from SSEN Transmission; Stuart Goodall from Confor; Elspeth Macdonald from the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation; Dr Caroline McParland from the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management; and Stephen Young from Scottish Land & Estates.

We have allocated around 90 minutes for the discussion and we have quite a few questions to get through in that time. We also have quite a few participants, so I ask everybody to be succinct in both their questions and their responses. Some questions will naturally need only a yes or no response, so please feel free to give such an answer. Please indicate to the clerk or to me if you wish to participate, but there is no expectation that everybody will comment on every issue, particularly if you feel that the point has already been made or that that part of the discussion does not relate to your area of expertise.

You will not have to operate your microphones; we have a lady here who will do that for you.

I will kick off with a nice, straightforward question. In principle, do you support the introduction of statutory biodiversity targets? What impacts do you believe that the anticipated legal targets will have, in practice, for your sector?

The second item on our agenda is consideration of the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill at stage 1. Today, we will take evidence from a panel of planning and business representatives. I have a long list of people to welcome to the meeting: Jenny Munro from the Royal Town Planning Institute, who joins us remotely; Jacqueline Cook from the Scottish Property Federation; Sarah Cowie from NFU Scotland; Emily Johns from SSEN Transmission; Stuart Goodall from Confor; Elspeth Macdonald from the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation; Dr Caroline McParland from the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management; and Stephen Young from Scottish Land & Estates.

We have allocated around 90 minutes for the discussion and we have quite a few questions to get through in that time. We also have quite a few participants, so I ask everybody to be succinct in both their questions and their responses. Some questions will naturally need only a yes or no response, so please feel free to give such an answer. Please indicate to the clerk or to me if you wish to participate, but there is no expectation that everybody will comment on every issue, particularly if you feel that the point has already been made or that that part of the discussion does not relate to your area of expertise.

You will not have to operate your microphones; we have a lady here who will do that for you.

I will kick off with a nice, straightforward question. In principle, do you support the introduction of statutory biodiversity targets? What impacts do you believe that the anticipated legal targets will have, in practice, for your sector?

I will jump the next question, as I think that we have a broadcasting issue, and move to a question from Tim Eagle.

Just on that, when does the Government pitch in? We have been working with the 2004 act for quite some time. It is nine years since we effectively came out of Europe, but we do not yet have a replacement for the common agricultural policy. We still do not have a rural support plan. We are looking at a natural environment bill that will deliver biodiversity targets. Today, the Climate Change Committee has recommended a 26 per cent reduction in the Scottish beef herd. When will the Government make the hard decisions and bring everything together? There comes a point at which those targets have to be expressed. At the moment, there is a vacuum of information and a lack of knowledge about the direction of travel, despite the fact that we are in a climate and biodiversity crisis.

That brings us to the end of this morning’s evidence session on the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill. Thank you very much for your contributions. My apologies that it all became a bit rushed at the end.

This is a question for Confor, I suppose, as your members will take part in discussions on the UK forestry standard and so on. We heard concerns about the change of administration for local authorities and changes in priorities. The council might find that it has to fund some things that allow it to facilitate the implementation of the national park plan. How do you see that flowing? If the duty is put in place, how would a national direction of travel—for example, the UK forestry standard—tie in with or have regard to a national park plan that might have only some of your members’ involvement?

I have a supplementary question on that. Police Scotland said that, even if there were to be a stand-alone statutory offence of dog theft, the crime would still be recorded as robbery or theft by housebreaking and that it would not necessarily be recorded as dog theft. Is that something that we need to consider in an amendment for stage 2?

Thank you.