Chamber and committees

The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs announced the Pig Producers Scheme on Friday 10 July. This is a £2 million scheme for independent pig producers in Scotland to help with the significant market challenges facing the sector. The funding aims to support farms most at risk from a prolonged drop in pig prices, and those eligible will be able to claim the difference between the price they received for their pigs and 85% of the Standard Pig Price (SPP). The scheme will open to applications from 15 July, and the support will apply retrospectively to losses incurred since March, with provision for the scheme to continue until the end of August 2026.

Scotland has 16 registered product names with the UK’s protected food and drink scheme. This protection is called a Geographical Indication (GI) and is protected as intellectual property. Geographical Indication protection guarantees a product’s characteristics or reputation, authenticity, and origin. It protects the product name from misuse or imitation. The UK GI schemes protect registered product names when they are sold in Great Britain and in some international markets. Northern Ireland is covered by the EU GI scheme. Each product registered with the scheme is subject to rigorous audit on an annual basis by an independent body, most commonly the relevant local authority.

The UK register of protected food names is found here - https://www.gov.uk/protected-food-drink-names

For any major public events in the city, Glasgow City Council will chair a Safety Advisory Group (SAG). This is a non-statutory body, comprising of council departments and safety and security multi-agency partners, that advises the Council on public safety and licensing for sports grounds and events. The SAG reviews event management plans and provides specialist advice regarding crowd safety, traffic management, and emergency procedures. This is a recognised practice across all Local Authorities and ensures compliance with statutory requirements across a range of safety and security-related legislation. Scottish Government are not a core member of such groups.

For major events, such as the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2026, the event organiser is also expected to chair a safety and security group with all relevant partners, including Scottish Government, to ensure safety and security risks are planned for, assessed and proportionately mitigated in a collaborative manner.

The Scottish Government has a strong track record of support for Scotland’s meat processing industry in general, including pig processing. The Food Processing, Marketing and Cooperation (FPMC) Grant Scheme has previously provided support to pig processing; details of awards given under the Scheme can be found here: Food-Processing-Marketing-and-Co-operation---Funding-Awards-2014-20-and-2021-24-Nov-2025.pdf.

In addition, the Small Producers Pilot Fund has in recent years provided resource support to explore solutions to challenges surrounding abattoirs and small producers’ access to private kill services. Over £400,000 was invested in 2025-26, and support will continue for small producers with a budget of £1m in resource and £1.5m in capital this year.

The Scottish Government’s Food and Drink Processing Scheme Scotland was open between 17 March and 15 May this year. The competitive Scheme is aimed at supporting the food and drink processing industry through capital grants and is part of a £9 million capital investment package. Applications are currently being assessed.

Personal imports of pork from ASF affected countries represent a high risk of bringing the disease to the UK. The Scottish Government recognises the urgent need for more stringent controls on personal imports of animal products from Europe, particularly in light of the spread of ASF in many European countries.

Scottish Ministers have written to previous Defra Secretaries of State on at least six occasions in the last five years, seeking urgent action, in particular calling for increased resources and investment to improve biosecurity standards at border posts.

In November 2019, Scottish Ministers agreed to the establishment of a dedicated detector dog service delivered by Border Force for the detection of products of animal origin (PoAO) in Scotland’s airports and ports. The dogs have been a great addition to the Border Force team and are highly efficient in the detection of PoAO, stopping these products from entering Scotland.

The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs met with the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator at the Royal Highland Show on 18 June. The Fair Dealings Obligations Regulations seek to ensure greater fairness and transparency in the supply chain by requiring there to be written purchase contracts between pig producers and their buyers and sets out a number of the provisions that should be in these contracts. Retailers are therefore unlikely to fall under the scope of the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator unless they are buying pigs directly from farms and instead fall under the scope of the Groceries Code Adjudicator.

The Scottish Government worked closely with the UK and other devolved governments to develop the Fair Dealings Obligations Regulations in the milk and pig sectors. The pig regulations are in force for new contracts signed after 13 August 2025, and for existing contracts from 13 August 2026. The Scottish Government will continue to stay engaged with the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator, Defra and industry on the practical effects of the regulations.

While the Scottish Government has no policy to reduce herd numbers, we do not set targets for livestock numbers, including breeding pigs, as these are primarily driven by market conditions and individual business decisions. However, we recognise the reported 7.3% decrease in pig numbers in 2025 when compared with the five-year average and the importance of a resilient domestic supply. The Scottish Government will invest more than £1 billion in the rural affairs budget during 2026-27, and we continue to provide certainty to the industry. We have a proud record of supporting and investing in farming and food production and are wholly committed to continuing to support active farming and maintaining a secure and sustainable food system for the future.

The current challenges affecting the pig sector include complex trade issues which appear to be affecting prices, as opposed to there being evidence of an increase in imports. Trade data indicates that UK pigmeat imports fell by nearly 5% in volume in 2025, and were down nearly 7% between January and March 2026, compared to the same three months in 2025. However, downwards pressure on the EU pig price appears to have distorted the domestic market.

Whilst international trade is reserved, the Scottish Government will continue to engage with the UK Government on trade matters such as these, with a view to preventing market shocks.

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 (also known as Martyn’s Law) is a reserved piece of legislation. It introduces a legal duty on those responsible for publicly accessible premises and events to improve preparedness for terrorist attacks. The Act received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025.

A minimum 24-month implementation period means duties are expected to come into force from 2027, following statutory guidance published in April 2026. As the guidance is for reserved Legislation it is the responsibility of the UK Government to provide relevant guidance. The Home Office have recently published a series of guidance and documents to support the Act and those under its remit.

Multi-agency exercising in Scotland is not co-ordinated by the Scottish Government and is the responsibility of the services themselves to ensure that lessons are identified and learned.

However, Scottish Government has recently been working with partner agencies in the development and delivery of a programme of exercises to test both the emergency response and the consequence management processes in the event of terrorist incidents. This is a two year programme of exercising regionally across Scotland which will deliver fifteen exercises by the end of Financial Year 2026-27.