Seòmar agus comataidhean

I turn to international development, which is another area that is your responsibility, although you have a new Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development in Neil Gray. There is a lot of reciprocity in the relationships that exist between Scotland and the countries in which we work—most famously Malawi, but also others, including Zambia. There has been a review of our international development policy and a keenness on the part of Government to challenge our assumptions about how international development is done. For example, there has been talk about removing the white gaze from the way in which we do international development. Will you say a bit about what is changing so that the committee can understand that?

I thank the cabinet secretary for his opening remarks.

I do not know whether you heard the evidence from the previous panel about the benefit that our international offices provide. There is quite an interest in having more of those offices. What ambitions are there for further countries to benefit from a Scottish presence around the world?

I begin by thanking Rona MacKay, Angus Campbell and Naomi Bremner for the work that they have done in my constituency on behalf of the Uist economic task force to bring the petition to the committee.

Island communities are all reliant on lifeline transport links. They are vital to every aspect of our lives. However, the organisations that are tasked with delivering those services have virtually no one with experience of living in the communities that they serve on their boards. The petitioners’ submission rightly states that community and place should be at the heart of good government.

Given that the principal mission of organisations such as David MacBrayne Ltd, Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd and Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd is to serve island communities, it is not in the interests of good governance of the boards of those organisations to be as remote from their service users as they currently are. I say that as no criticism of existing board members, but I do not think that any of them probably faces the experience that I, fairly enough, face of hearing people’s views about CalMac Ferries every time I go to buy a pint of milk.

Since the committee last considered the petition in early September, I led a members’ business debate in the chamber on reserving seats for islanders on the board of CalMac. There was a large degree of cross-party consensus on the need for more representation of islanders. The then transport minister, Graeme Dey, signalled that the Scottish Government is open to changes, and in responding to a recent parliamentary question of mine the minister also stated that he had tasked the newly appointed chair of David MacBrayne to look at ways of getting an island-based presence on the boards.

Briefly, one other development that is relevant to a petition that you have just considered is that HIAL has recently confirmed that it will be taking a different approach to its ATMS plans on air traffic control jobs. The issue with HIAL also partly motivated the petition that we are presently discussing. The announcement comes after five years of bitter dispute with the affected communities and the air traffic controllers trade union. It is fair to speculate on whether the process would have been as long, acrimonious and protracted if more board members of that organisation had been based in island communities.

In closing, I will borrow a point that Rona MacKay from Uist made to me. Last year, Uist and Lewis both won titles of social enterprise places of the year. That is a testament to the large number of social enterprises on the islands, which each have unpaid boards of islanders. Islanders are not strangers to boards and nor, relevantly, is there any shortage of islanders who know about seafaring. There exists a large and healthy degree of involvement in public life in the islands. It would be in everyone’s interests if that could be utilised on the boards of the organisations that deliver lifeline services to them.

I urge the committee to keep the petition open and to push for changes in the criteria for board appointments in the organisations that we have discussed to give much more prominence to the experience of living in an island community.

This question is perhaps for Claire Hislop and Jo Teece. In previous meetings, we have considered whether a new body is needed to ensure—I do not want to use the word “enforce”—that what is outlined in the bill and the envisaged plan works. Do we need a new body in this area? Can we develop existing bodies that work around food in Scotland so that they can fulfil that function?

Will you elaborate on what you mean by the world of food being a “cluttered” environment? Will you explain what you were thinking?

Does Jo Teece have a view on that or on the more general point that I made about whether a new body is needed?

Iain Gulland, you have given us some fearful statistics about food waste and you have set out a solution. Rightly, you are advocating for more food to be grown in Scotland that can be used in Scotland. How does that relate to the problem that we were talking about last week, which is the affordability of food? It is not just about the rising cost of living. More generally, we have been talking about how to make food affordable for people on low incomes. We all want to see more food that is grown in Scotland being used in Scotland, as a solution to some of the problems that you have outlined. How do we make that happen and make it more affordable?

My question is for Dr Fletcher and Claire Hislop. You mentioned the important issue of the food environment in Scotland, which I think we would all agree needs to be changed. However, I am sure that you would also agree—although I do not want to put words in your mouth—that we cannot divorce that issue from the issue of incomes. Although I appreciate that some of the levers for determining incomes, whether through wages or benefits, are reserved, perhaps you can say a little about what you think a good food nation should be with regard to incomes.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. You are certainly a regular customer at the committee, and we look forward, I hope, to UK ministers being similarly co-operative in future.

My question is about how the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 relates to other measures. You touched on this in your introductory remarks, but I am interested in the cumulative effect on policy, particularly as it relates to all three devolved Administrations. You mentioned unhappiness in that quarter, and I know that there has been coverage about unhappiness on the part of the Welsh Government about the impact on policy in areas such as education. What contact has there been with, or what have you heard from, the other devolved Administrations about what they feel is the cumulative effect of the 2020 act, plus other measures?

The cabinet secretary has hinted at some of the UK Government’s motivations behind its actions. In a state that operates without a written constitution and on precedent and expediency, where is this all going? Are we moving into a period in which the UK Government looks at the Sewel convention—the convention that the powers of the Scottish Parliament are not altered without its consent—as constitutional history?