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No problem—I am happy to do that. We have £5 million in the budget to support the work of the Farm Advisory Service, which provides that kind of bespoke advice as well as more generic advice. It has been really important with regard to the advice that it can offer farmers and crofters.

However, it is not only the Farm Advisory Service that is important here. We know that peer-to-peer learning, knowledge transfer and innovation are really important, too, which is why we have put in place the knowledge transfer and innovation fund—or KTIF—to support various knowledge transfer projects. For example, we have supported the funding of monitor farms, which we know are very well received. Sharing that experience and learning is important for the businesses involved, and we are addressing the issue through a variety of funds.

I also emphasise that we know how important skills advice and continuous professional development are. That came through strongly in the consultation on the future agriculture bill. Earlier this year, I announced that work would be undertaken by the James Hutton Institute and Scotland’s Rural College on what a future system of agricultural knowledge and innovation might look like. They published their research at the start of the summer, and we are keen to see what we can take from it and what options we can develop as part of the future framework.

I have a small amount of time, if that is okay.

Did that relate to the national islands plan? We talked about data collection as part of that. I think that there were five on-going pieces of work. In addition, we are still awaiting island-specific regional information from the census.

Sorry, Erica—I do not know whether you want to add more.

I am delighted to be here today. This session comes ahead of the 2024-25 annual Scottish budget, and I welcome the opportunity to hear the views of the committee as we begin that process.

The policy prospectus, which was published in March, introduced my expanded portfolio, which encompasses rural affairs, land reform and islands, and my responsibilities as set out in the mandate letter from the First Minister. The 2023 medium-term financial strategy sets out a credible approach to delivering fiscal sustainability over time, which is anchored in three pillars that illustrate the need for tough and decisive action to ensure that our finances are on a sustainable path to deliver our three central missions of equality, opportunity and community. The medium-term financial strategy, the mandate letters and the programme for government 2024-25 will shape the Scottish budget process.

We continue to feel the impacts of severe economic conditions and inflationary pressures, which are affecting households, businesses and public services. Similarly, the fiscal outlook for the Scottish Government is expected to remain challenging and subject to the considerable volatility that is arising from uncertainty around the block grant and the income tax net position. Where we have been able to do so, we have taken action to prioritise support for the most vulnerable in our communities, to attract investment, to grow our economy and to respond to the climate crisis.

My priorities in that process are clear, too. The budgets that are allocated to my portfolio will continue to make a vital difference to our nation’s wellbeing through the protection, nurture and restoration of our natural assets, ensuring that they sustain our people, our businesses and communities both now and into the future.

Although addressing, mitigating and adapting to climate change and protecting and restoring nature are challenges, they also create opportunities. The spend across my portfolio supports our rural and blue economies to make them more sustainable, productive and prosperous. Scotland’s agriculture, forestry, fishing and aquaculture sectors are at the heart of many of our communities and, when combined, contribute around £2.6 billion to the Scottish economy. Our food and drink industry is still Scotland’s largest manufacturing sector, with exports that are worth £8 billion annually.

We will continue to work to deliver more fishing opportunities and prosperity for Scotland’s coastal communities and to transform how we support farming and food production, working with the agricultural sector to co-develop and deliver on the agricultural vision. We have committed £250 million over 10 years to restore 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlands by 2030, which will support new green jobs in the rural economy and is critical to delivering Scotland’s just transition to net zero.

We are continuing to invest in the skills and infrastructure that are needed to ensure that the forestry sector can continue to grow, too. This year, we have—yet again—introduced agricultural payments to aid vital cash flow into the rural economy. The first tranche has exceeded forecasts and we have paid nearly £300 million in basic payments in the first three weeks. We have increased the Scottish land fund, providing up to £11 million to enable more communities to own land, buildings and other assets in urban and rural areas.

I hope that you can see that I am continuing, and will continue, to prioritise that direct injection into the economy for rural, agriculture, marine and island communities. That prioritisation provides much-needed economic stability locally and nationally. Our commitment to supporting the ambitions for our islands remains strong, too. We will award up to £14 million of grant funding through the marine fund Scotland to support projects in line with our blue economy vision.

Those key pieces of work demonstrate the significance of the environment around climate change mitigation and nature restoration alongside the importance of people, communities and the economies that they support. Although there are many challenges to overcome as we look to the future, I will continue to work across the Scottish Government and with our partners across Scotland to support the resilience and strength of our rural, coastal and island communities.

Yes, I would be happy to. I am aware that I recently sent the committee a letter, which outlined the progress of various projects to which we had committed in the islands programme.

We had £4 million of budget allocated to the islands programme this year, and that is supporting a number of projects across our islands, which are progressing. In a moment, I will ask Erica Clarkson to give you more information on some of the projects that we have on-going there. It is, of course, a hugely important programme that we know is making a significant difference in our island communities as well as delivering against the objectives that we have set out in the national islands plan.

In terms of value for money, it might be helpful to talk about how some of those applications are scored and about the different factors that are taken into consideration. When it comes to spend, not just in island areas but in our rural economy as a whole, we cannot look at it purely on the basis of best value and economic value in its simplest sense. We have to take into consideration the wider impact that funding in rural and island communities has. In the islands programme, there are some projects that, in the grand scheme of things, could be considered small projects but that have a disproportionately big impact in island communities. One example is the investment that we have made in an old school building in Eriskay. It is really important to bear that in mind.

On the factors that are taken into account in scoring applications, 40 per cent of the scoring is about how a project is delivering against the objectives that we have set out in the national islands plan, but a huge element of the process is about the community impact. How have communities been involved in the project? How will they be included? What will be the impacts on the community throughout? It is right that we put value on those particular areas and that we have that strong community focus, as well as ensuring that projects are delivering against the national islands plan.

Erica Clarkson will be able to provide more information.

There is no one simple solution to address all of that, especially when it comes to depopulation. It is about the action that we take on a number of different fronts to address that.

Thinking about other parts of the portfolio, there could be opportunities in relation to what we take forward with land reform. We want to see more community ownership, engagement, involvement and transparency throughout the whole process. I think that there will be opportunities within that. I also mentioned the remote, rural and islands housing action plan, which is under development and should be published soon. I hope that the funding that I announced for key workers will have a positive impact in rural and island areas as well. That is not to forget the wider work that we are doing to address some of the issues through the addressing depopulation action plan.

We have undertaken a number of other initiatives, the funding for which has come from the islands team as well as from the population team in the Scottish Government, and we have seen a positive impact there, which it is important to highlight. Together with local authorities—and, I think, with HIE, although Erica Clarkson will correct me if I am wrong—we have been co-funding community settlement officer posts, and we have seen an impact of that in relation to Uist. Some 200 families were looking to move there, and the settlement officer has helped about 25 families to relocate there so far. I know that that might not seem like a huge number in the grand scheme of things, but it is hugely important to the island.

We are seeing positive work through those actions, and it is important that, where we see the positive impacts of initiatives, we continue and embed that work as we tackle depopulation challenges.

Do you mean giving it directly through the islands programme?

Yes, it is important that we look at all the other methods that we can use to tackle some of those issues in the islands. I could mention a number of different projects. Maybe the approach comes across as a bit piecemeal, as though we are not thinking across the piece, but, through the action plan, we have the opportunity to bring all of that together in one strategic plan. Again, whether it is Airbnb properties or second homes, which you spoke about, we need to tackle all of that as well as building new houses. I do not know whether that answers your question.

I am aware that skills are an issue across our islands, and we outlined in the national islands plan annual report some of the actions that are being taken; a number of different projects are under way.

In relation to the delivery of the islands programme and some of the challenges that projects have come up against, there is a particular issue with construction skills and ensuring that we have a construction workforce. Work on that is being done nationally, and work has been undertaken to get the Scottish vocational qualification on a par with other SVQs that we have in place. The Minister for Higher and Further Education has been leading that work, and he had a round-table discussion with all the interested stakeholders just last month to look at how we can do work on that and address some of the challenges with it.

A pilot project took place in Uist earlier this year, which was about retaining skills. Erica Clarkson may be able to give an update on that, and I would be happy to provide further information to the committee on it. That was a specific skills pilot, and we are keen to take learning from it. Mapping is being done of the skills that will be needed for the industries that we will need for the carbon-neutral islands project as well.

We have focused on the infrastructure and capital spend of the islands programme, but it is important not to forget that we also have resource spending, which funds other important projects. For example, the islands scholarship scheme is about how we attract and retain students who live on our islands and make sure that we match them to the skills that we need for the future. There are a number of strands in that. There is also work through the islands growth deal.

I am happy to provide more detail. I will bring Erica Clarkson in, because the islands team in the Scottish Government works closely with other departments across the Scottish Government on the funding. At a ministerial level, we ensure that we have engagement across the piece. For example, you will be aware that we are developing the remote, rural and islands housing action plan. There has been strong engagement between our teams on the actions that will come forward as a result of that.

I know that the committee has raised concerns, via local authorities and other bodies, about all the different strands of funding that exist across the piece and how they could be better aligned. The islands team works to ensure that we meet our obligations under the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, but those other funds also help us to deliver against our strategic objectives in the national islands plan. For example, the islands team works closely with the Scottish Futures Trust to look across Government and make sure that we avoid crossovers on deadlines when it comes to applications to the islands programme and to other funds. We are trying to minimise the impact on bodies that apply to the various funds.

I will hand over to Erica, who might want to add some more information to that.