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What is the chance of that report being acted on fairly quickly?

Thank you. I am interested to know the level of enforcement that exists across the board.

The Welsh pilot is Government funded. Do we know how much that cost? Have any estimates been done of what it would cost if it was rolled out in the Scottish context, given that we have a larger and more dispersed population with larger rural areas? As Claire Calder said, Aberdeenshire Council said that it might cost it an extra £24,000 but that figure could be far higher in areas such as the Highlands and Islands. It would therefore be interesting to know what the Welsh pilot cost and what the estimates are for any Scottish pilot.

Good morning to everyone. My question is along those lines, on enforcement and compliance, so it fits in nicely with the discussion.

Every member of the committee represents a rural or Highlands and Islands community. It is very difficult to deliver services there even at the best of times, as there is huge pressure in that regard. This bill is likely to put additional responsibilities on those services, as well as on all councils. The suggestion that there could be a central body for enforcement is therefore interesting. Perhaps we could get some idea of costs and how that would be delivered, because that is potentially a whole new approach.

Given that current regulations do not seem to be enforced, and that the new legislation will be successful only if it has teeth and is enforced, what confidence do you have that, without either a new approach involving additional resources for councils or a more centralised approach, the new code of conduct will be any better than what we currently have?

I am a partner in the organic farming business of J Halcro-Johnston & Sons, I am the owner of a croft and I am a member of NFU Scotland and Scottish Land & Estates.

I will come in on the points that were made. The Government is very good at saying, “This is how much we spent”, rather than, “This is the outcome of what we have spent.” We have been talking about multiyear funding. One of the issues is not just about how many years something will take, even when we have seen projects that have had extended deadlines; it is about the criteria not being set up in the right way. For example, on the rural and islands housing funds, the process was meant to take a year, and that was extended, but the money still has not been utilised.

How important is it for the Government to get the criteria right in the first instance? If we have a limited budget, we have to make sure that the money is being used, and too much of it at the moment seems to be underutilised.

On a similar point, there are some areas where you have indicated that you are looking for parity, largely, with the UK scheme, so that Scottish freeports are not at a disadvantage. What engagement are you having on the freeport projects—if, for example, there was a need to change the five-year transaction date? How is that engagement happening?

Thanks. The convener, Liz Smith and others have spoken about the impact of displacement as well as the costs involved, such as the advertised cost of £5 million in terms of land and buildings transaction tax, and how that might be offset by increases in income tax take. How detailed will that information be on income tax? Will you be able to determine from local tax figures whether there is displacement? Will that be an opportunity to see where displacement is happening and its impact? How soon would we be able to see that?

Good morning to the minister and his colleagues. I make it clear that I was pleased to support the winning Cromarty Firth bid.

A number of the issues that I was looking to raise have been covered; I will address a couple of things that colleagues have raised. In response to the convener’s questions, you talked about the role of infrastructure such as new schools, hospitals and housing, which will be vital to accommodate the new people and new jobs that we hope will come to freeport areas and will probably be vital to the success of freeports. You suggested that such infrastructure is a local government responsibility, and we know that local government is under severe financial pressure in delivering the services that it provides already. As a Government, how will you ensure that such services can be developed, given their importance to the project as a whole?

Is there a specific vehicle for doing that? Obviously, some of the resources that will be needed further down the track will need to be delivered through the decisions that are being made now and the consultations that are being held now, whether those are on the structure that we have just talked about or infrastructure such as the A9, which we know is considerably behind schedule. Is there a specific group that is working on that?

Therefore, if there were movement on either side on, for example, a need to change the situation, that is where it would be brought up and taken forward.