Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill - Financial Memorandum
Overview
If the Bill is passed as introduced, Scottish Ministers will be required to prepare a five year Rural Support Plan. This plan will include details of farming, forestry, and rural development support. The Bill gives Scottish Ministers the power to form a new support framework and provide financial and other assistance. The framework would be brought into law by secondary legislation.
This Bill also makes changes to the Agriculture (Retained EU Law and Data) (Scotland) Act 2020. It allows Scottish Ministers to change, extend or end Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) legislation as it applies in Scotland.
The Bill would also allow the Scottish Government to introduce training requirements for farmers and other workers. The regulation of animal identification is also updated.
Financial Memorandum
As with all Bills, the Finance and Public Administration Committee invites written evidence on the estimated financial implications of the Bill as set out in its accompanying Financial Memorandum (FM).
Read the FM for this Bill: Financial Memorandum.
Your Views
The call for views closed on 24 November 2023.
The Committee received 12 submissions to its call for views. Read the submissions on Citizen Space.
Oral Evidence
The Committee took evidence on the following dates:
Tuesday 6 February 2024
The Committee took evidence from Scottish Government officials.
Read the agenda, papers and Official Report (substantially verbatim transcript) for this meeting.
Correspondence
Following the evidence session on 6 February 2024, the Committee wrote to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee on 19 February 2024 in relation to issues raised during that meeting and during the Committee's consideration of the Bill. Read the correspondence at the following link: