Chamber and committees

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) are responsible for considering welfare complaints and investigating potential breaches in welfare legislation.

APHA veterinarians have the professional knowledge and training to assess against the welfare needs set out in Section 24 (3) of The Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.

The Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture is a sector developed code which supports producers in understanding and delivering their obligations around welfare and other matters. Compliance with the code may form part of the range evidence used by APHA in considering whether obligations have been breached.

Although not formally adopted under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 nor the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (Scotland) Regulations 2012, the finfish sector’s Code of Good Practice supports producers to deliver on their welfare obligations.

The Scottish Government, in its response to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee (13 March 2025), has committed to exploring options for how to best to set welfare standards for production going forward and will update the Committee in September 2025 on progress and next steps.

We are currently developing guidance for the welfare of farmed fish at the time of slaughter taking into account the recommendations made in the UK Animal Welfare Committee report of 2014 and its updated opinion of 2023. We will engage with the industry and other stakeholders, including animal welfare organisations, for their views at the appropriate stage.

The Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture is independent of Scottish Government which is not responsible for any review or updates made to the Code.

The Scottish Government, in its response to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee (13 March 2025), has committed to exploring options for how to best to set welfare standards for production going forward and will update the Committee in September 2025 on progress and next steps.

The Scottish Government’s Agriculture and Rural Economy (ARE) Directorate relies on several IT systems, integrations and infrastructure to conduct its business with appropriate cyber security and supporting applications to protect and operate these systems and infrastructure effectively.

In addition to rural payment systems, we maintain and rely on a number of other IT systems such as the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), Estate Management Database (EMA), Drawing Office, Plant Health, Livestock Inspection System (LIS). These systems collectively assure eligibility for payments, support of inspections, responding to legislative requirements and supporting corporate systems.

ARE IT/Digital services and the data within them support a range of other government departments, functions and agencies including NatureScot, Forestry, Estates Management, Plant Health and Livestock Inspections meaning our IT/Digital services support a wider range of stakeholders.

The IT costs are those costs (not including the Scottish Government’s employees) required to operate and maintain the reliability and resilience of rural payments and are made up of many aspects such as recurring maintenance charges for software and hardware, licence charges, major upgrades in infrastructure that are needed from time to time, and charges under the Maintenance and Modernisation service contracts which includes the cost of service providers. It is also essential that we continue to make proportionate investment in our cyber capabilities to protect these systems and customers’ data. There is an on-going programme of modernising or decommissioning of older IT systems to reduce costs and obtain the efficiencies possible from more modern technology. The costs do not include those associated with the design and development of completely new services.

Many of these IT systems also rely on the Scottish Government’s Shared IT infrastructure and services that are maintained as a common service to deliver economies of scale. These costs are not included in the following table.

Due to sharing of common services and the integration of IT systems, it is not possible to separately identify the cost elements that relate specifically to rural payments systems from the overall cost for all systems.

The IT staff in the Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate (including those in Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA)) are involved in a range of digital activities from maintaining and supporting current services to developing the future services.

In addition to rural payments systems, we maintain and rely on other IT systems such as the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), Estate Management Database (EMA), Drawing Office, Plant Health, Livestock Inspection System (LIS). These systems collectively assure eligibility for payments, support of inspections, responding to legislative requirements and supporting corporate systems.

ARE IT/Digital services and the data within them support a range of other government departments, functions and agencies including NatureScot, Forestry, Estates Management, Plant Health and Livestock Inspections meaning our IT / Digital services support a wider range of stakeholders.

IT staff in the Scottish Government’s Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate (ARE) are members of the Government Digital and Data Profession covering an array of professional IT roles.

Many of these IT systems also rely on aspects of the shared Scottish Government IT infrastructure supported by other SG IT staff. The staff supporting these corporate systems are not included in the following table.

Due to the flexible deployment of IT staff based on skills and knowledge to where they provide the greatest benefit at a point in time aligned with priorities it is not possible to separately identify the staff costs solely associated with rural payments IT systems.

The salary cost (including overtime) of all directly employed IT staff in ARE for the four years 2021-2025 is as follows:

The expenditure of a) and b) in 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 is expected to be broadly similar to 2024-2025. In addition to rural payments systems this budget will be used to maintain and support a number of other IT systems such as the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), Estate Management Database (EMA), Drawing Office, Plant Health, Livestock Inspection System (LIS). These systems collectively assure eligibility for payments, support of inspections, responding to legislative requirements and supporting corporate systems.

ARE IT/Digital services support a range of other government departments, functions and agencies including NatureScot, Forestry, Estates Management, Plant Health and Livestock Inspections meaning our IT / Digital services support a wider range of stakeholders.

I can confirm investment of £10 million over the next two years to increase the number of Changing Places Toilets in Scotland.

I expect to launch the Fund in Summer 2025, with funding awards confirmed in the Autumn. Development work on the Fund is well underway and we will be seeking views as part of that. Further information on the Fund will be provided in due course.

The Scottish Government recognises the pressure on household budgets which is why the 2025-26 budget continues to allocate over £3bn a year to policies which tackle poverty and the cost of living, including providing free bus travel for all children and young people under 22.

In terms of general support, there is range of support available to anyone experiencing financial difficulties. We continue to support free welfare, debt and income maximisation advice services across all areas of the county with funding of over £12m allocated in 2024-2025 and have a dedicated Cost of Living website, signposting to helpful information across a range of subjects including energy and bills, debt and money and health and wellbeing.

Recognising the specific impact of the cost of living crisis on island communities, since December 2022 the Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund has distributed over £3.4 million to support islanders facing cost of living pressures.

The significant investments that we are making in Regional Growth Deals will have an important role to play in developing rural economies. The Scottish Government has committed over £379 million to Regional Growth Deal rural projects to accelerate inclusive economic growth, investment which will support a range of projects on themes like key sector innovation, skills, connectivity, housing and infrastructure improvement. As an example of how the Growth Deals are supporting young people in rural communities, the Affordable Housing project, delivered through the Inverness & Highland City Region Deal, is an ongoing project to complete over 500 affordable new homes. Of those completed, over 200 are now occupied by people younger than 30 years of age.

In addition, the Borderlands Growth Deal aims to develop the regional economy by addressing three main economic challenges: narrowing the productivity gap, increasing the working age population, and delivering inclusive growth. In Dumfries and Galloway SG is investing £4m in the Dairy Nexus project, which will deliver innovation to decarbonise the dairy sector and boost dairy sector businesses. Other planned investments include £16m to repurpose Stranraer and Loch Ryan as a vibrant marine leisure destination and £20m to stimulate the reinvigoration of towns and centres across the Borderlands area, with plans being developed in 5 Dumfries and Galloway towns.

The Scottish Government recognises the pressure on household budgets which is why the 2025-26 budget continues to allocate over £3bn a year to policies which tackle poverty and the cost of living, including providing free bus travel for all children and young people under 22.

There is range of support available to anyone experiencing financial difficulties. We continue to support free welfare, debt and income maximisation advice services across all areas of the county with funding of over £12m allocated in 2024-2025 and have a dedicated Cost of Living website, signposting to helpful information across a range of subjects including energy and bills, debt and money and health and wellbeing.

Recognising the specific impact of the cost of living crisis on island communities, since December 2022 the Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund has distributed over £3.4 million to support islanders facing cost of living pressures.