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Ariane Burgess and the committee will be aware of the fact that, even though I have responsibility for islands, there are many issues that impact on our island communities that do not fall directly within my remit. The issue of housing in our rural areas and island communities falls within the remit of the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, Shona Robison. However, there are obviously strong crossovers between her responsibilities and mine in that respect.

Like Ariane Burgess, I travelled round our islands in the summer. I visited Islay and Colonsay with Jenny Minto, and I went to Orkney and Shetland, too. On Colonsay, lack of affordable housing is a huge issue. We heard from someone whose family had been on the island for generations but they were living in a caravan because there was no housing there for them. There were job opportunities in the area, but there was no housing available to enable people to live on the island. More than 40 per cent of the homes on Colonsay are second homes or holiday homes. There are undoubtedly issues there.

A positive aspect of that visit was the fact that I was there to launch the rural and islands housing funds. By investing in those funds, together with Mowi, we are helping to deliver new housing for the community, which will have a hugely positive impact. On top of that, in the co-operation agreement, we talk about developing an action plan for rural and island housing, as well as committing £45 million for rural and island communities.

As I mentioned, the islands bond will not resolve many of the issues on its own, because there are a lot of issues that can affect people’s ability to live on islands and that might cause them to leave. Ariane Burgess is right to say that housing is a critical element. I hope that, through the funding that we are providing and by engaging with communities on the action plan, we can identify where the critical problems are and try to address those as best we can. I hope that that, alongside some of the other measures that I have outlined, will help.

You are absolutely right. Food is an integral part of our lives that affects many different elements. There was previously a ministerial working group on food, and the co-operation agreement sets out that we want to re-establish that. That would bring together colleagues from across Government to ensure that we address the issues as best we can. I was Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing at the start of the year, and obviously the issue has huge impact in that area because of dietary-related disease. The issue also impacts on poverty and many other areas.

It is therefore critical that we work across Government to address some of the issues. That will be key when we look to develop and introduce the good food nation bill. We will work across Government and right across wider society in Scotland to ensure that everybody has access to good food.

That issue has received a lot of attention recently. However, deer numbers across Scotland almost doubled in the period from 1990 to now, and managing numbers is absolutely necessary if we are to reduce the ecological damage that deer can do and to protect young trees. That is absolutely imperative in helping to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises.

I reassure the committee that that activity is licensed by NatureScot, which takes welfare very seriously when it is considering authorising the taking of deer during the period of highest welfare risk to dependent young. The people who undertake that activity have to go through rigorous training to comply with best practice. What we have seen announced recently is not a routine operation. Forestry and Land Scotland is responding to its annual survey of crop damage and habitat impacts from deer, and it is trying to prioritise deer management on vulnerable areas of land. A substantial number of Scotland’s land management organisations recognise the need for on-going control of deer populations and acknowledge that Forestry and Land Scotland delivers deer management to the highest possible standards.

Going back to the point that you made at the start of your question about where various bits and pieces fall, I note that wildlife management is the responsibility of the Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform, which is why the legislation in that regard will be led by that minister.

I believe that it may well fall inside the remit of the Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee, but it is ultimately up to the Parliamentary Bureau to determine committee allocation of bills and pieces of legislation.

Absolutely. Where local management is in place—there have been a couple of pilots—it seems to be operating really well, so we would welcome proposals from the regional inshore fisheries groups on how it can be done in other areas. Local management and ownership will be really important in making progress, and it will be a critical part of our work as we move forward.

As I said, I met the regional inshore fisheries groups earlier this week. We talked about future engagement. We want them to continue the work that they are doing and we know that they will need support with that. We will continue to consider those issues. We want to ensure that the groups have the resources that they need to enable them to deal with issues such as future local management plans and to undertake the engagement that will have to happen. We will continue discussing that with them.

I am not able to tell you that off the top of my head, but I am happy to come back to the committee with that information.

I completely understand that. The member and the committee will be aware of the co-operation agreement with the Scottish Green Party, which sets out a number of measures that we are looking at with regard to inshore fisheries and putting a cap on activity. It also sets out our intention to introduce highly protected marine areas, which would cover about 10 per cent of our seas. We will, of course, follow due process in relation to introducing such measures, and we will consult and engage with communities and the fisheries sector.

I also highlight “Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030”, which was published towards the tail end of last year. We will publish an action plan on that to be delivered towards the end of this year.

In my role, I undertake a lot of engagement with the various regional inshore fisheries groups; indeed, I met the chairs of the groups earlier in the week. We will continue to engage with the sector.

As Alasdair Allan will be aware, there are many competing interests in our marine environment, including renewable energy and various fishing interests, and we also have to try to improve that environment, protect our fish stocks and improve marine biodiversity. There will be a lot of challenges over the next few years, so we need engagement and consultation to ensure that we fully understand all the issues and that we work with communities in developing our future proposals.

Absolutely. On your first question, which was about the co-operation agreement with the Greens, engagement with different stakeholders is a critical part of my job and something that I have sought to do since I was appointed. Since we announced the co-operation agreement, I have sought to meet fisheries stakeholders to discuss concerns and potential issues.

However, the fact remains that we want sustainable development across our fisheries sector. I understand that there are concerns. As we move through the agreement that we have reached and the policies that we have outlined, it is really important to engage and consult and to base our decisions on the best available evidence. Working with stakeholders and carrying out that engagement is a critical part of the process.

There are a lot of issues in the marine environment. I have spoken about the increasingly cluttered landscape when it comes to our seas, about competing interests between fisheries and renewable energy, and about trying to protect our marine environment in the best possible way. I assure the committee that we will engage in the proper process as we develop the policies that we have set out in the co-operation agreement.

You also asked about catching policy. We have, in the programme for government, set out in some detail how we intend to move forward on that and on other work on fisheries. However, as you said, the pandemic has had an impact on the seafood industry and, in particular, on the fisheries industry. That has shown how much we need to boost the resilience of the industry overall, and to strengthen the links between the catching sector and onshore interests—for example, through diversification of fishing opportunities and attracting new entrants.

We want to tackle some of the known issues, an example of which is the landing obligation. We will introduce a future catching policy to take a tailored approach to tackling discards and reducing unwanted catch through various technical and spatial measures. We intend to consult on that before the end of the year and to introduce legislation next year. As I said in my previous response, we will also publish a delivery plan that will set out our plans for delivering the future fisheries management strategy and the 12 points within it, which will address a lot of the issues that are being experienced. That has strong backing from all our stakeholders and will be a critical piece of work.

It is also important to note that the co-operation agreement will build on what is set out in the future fisheries management strategy.

Yes, and I am happy to give the committee a bit of background information on where the commitment came from. We had an independent review of the field services that are delivered by the Animal and Plant Health Agency. That was commissioned by ministers a couple of years ago to ensure that they continue to offer value for money and to see whether any other models could deliver efficiencies or improve effectiveness. The report was published early last year and it contained 10 recommendations including the creation of a stand-alone Scottish animal health and welfare delivery body, which would, it was felt, best meet Scotland’s long-term interests.

We recently asked Professor Milne, who undertook that work, to revisit the report—to look at the manifesto commitment and update his report to take account of the changes that have taken place since then. Obviously, we have had the impact of EU exit, the new animal health regulations and Covid-19. We expect to get the report back in October.

We expect that a new Scottish veterinary service will at least be established within the current session of Parliament, subject to ensuring that we get the parliamentary time to deliver it. It is estimated that the initial work to create it will take about 18 months. There is a lot of information that we have to scope out as part of that process. We will consider what the most effective model will be and how we are going to deliver it. As I said, we hope that we will be able to undertake that work within the current session, securing the parliamentary time to deliver a veterinary service that works and delivers for Scotland.