Chamber and committees

Scottish Ministers have long argued for a comprehensive Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) deal with the EU, and have therefore welcomed the commitment made at the UK - EU summit of 19 May 2025 that the UK Government and European Commission should work towards establishing a Common SPS Area by way of an SPS Agreement. It is vital that the details of the SPS Agreement to be developed should benefit all parts of the UK and reflect the interests of Scottish producers and consumers.

The UK Government has argued that there are some areas in which it will need to retain its own rules, rather than align with EU regulation. Scottish Government policy is to seek dynamic alignment with the EU where it benefits Scotland to do so – including on gene editing, where neither the EU nor Scotland currently recognise a legal distinction between gene editing and genetic modification, and Scots and EU law remain aligned. We are engaging proactively with the UK Government on the exceptions they are seeking to the SPS agreement which overlap with devolved competencies.

The Scottish Government currently employs four civil servants in its AI Policy Team, with plans to increase this number in the coming weeks. However, this Team does not represent the full range of staff who currently work on, or have an interest in AI. This complement extends across the Scottish Government and its agencies to other publicly funded organisations and beyond. That is why the Scottish Government has committed to launching AI Scotland, a new national transformation programme founded on a partnership of business, academia, agencies and government, to operate as a focus for our collective effort to harness the full potential of AI to drive sustainable economic growth.

The First Minister announced on 7 February that around £14 million will be allocated to delivering the Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS). Despite the current constraints on the Scottish Budget, given the significant level of demand for the scheme, the possibility of allocating additional funding to the scheme is being considered.

In the wider financial context, FFIS is but one way in which the Scottish Government is supporting farmers and crofters deliver sustainable and regenerative agriculture. The 2025-26 budget allocates more than £665 million for the purpose of supporting farmers, land managers, rural communities and rural businesses. In contrast with the rest of the UK, the Scottish Government continues to provide farmers and crofters with reformed direct payments to support sustainable food production.

There has been a significant and welcome interest in the Future Farming Investment Scheme. Applications received are currently being considered and applicants will be informed of the outcome as soon as practicably possible after assessment has been undertaken.

Once a grant offer has been made, successful applicants will have 14 days to accept the terms and conditions of their offer. After acceptance, payments will be issued within 30 days. Applicants will have nine months from being made the Offer of Grant to purchase all items listed in part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Offer of Grant letter and provide evidence of the investment to the Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Division (SGRPID).

There has been significant interest from the agriculture sector in the Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS). 7,584 applications have been received, demonstrating the strong commitment of Scotland’s farmers and crofters to support key outcomes, from reducing emissions to supporting nature restoration.

The SPCB has a Flag flying policy.

The Flag flying policy is managed on behalf of the SPCB by the Facilities Management Office and they are guided by the SPCB on the appropriateness of any flags, which have been requested to be flown, on a case-by-case basis.

The SPCB last reviewed the Flag flying policy on 2May 2024 and confirmed it remained content with the current Policy, which includes flags which are to be flown annually.  The flag policy will be reviewed again by SPCB prior to dissolution and this request will be considered at this time.  Ad hoc requests can also be made to the SPCB to be considered each year, it is helpful to have these requests at least a month in advance to accommodate SPCB meeting dates.

Since taking up this role in June I have not had a meeting with the Interim Chief Executive of NHS Grampian. I attended the Collaborative Response and Assurance Group on 11 August 2025 which the Chief Officer of Health and Social Care Moray attended.

I last met with the Interim Chief Executive of NHS Grampian on 7 February 2025 and met with the Chief Officer of Health and Social Care Moray on 8th January 2025.

The were nine prosecutions under the 2010 Act reported to the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service of which seven resulted in a conviction. These were by year, 2019 X2, 2020 X0, 2021 X2 plus 1 not guilty, 2022 X1, 2023 X2, 2024 X 1 case dropped by PF.

Additionally, there were five Fixed Penalty Notices and one warning letter issued under Marine Conservation Orders enabled under the 2010 Act. These were by year 2019 3 x FPN, 2020 1 x FPN, 2023 1 x FPN, 2024 1 x Warning Letter.

All vessels were UK vessels because the Marine Scotland Act and associated orders apply to Territorial and Inshore waters where generally only UK vessels are permitted to fish.

Prosecutions are considered as those cases reported the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service, they do not include penalties issued under the Fixed Penalty Notice provisions.

There were nine prosecutions with seven convictions, these were by year, 2019 X2, 2020 X0, 2021 X3 including one which resulted in a not guilty verdict, 2022 X1, 2023 X2, and in 2024 there was one case dropped by the Procurator Fiscal.