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Thank you. Elizabeth Leighton, I mentioned you, so let me turn to you next.

That is helpful. The principles of national developments, given their status, do not need to be agreed in the later consenting process, but they still have to have relevant statutory consent. On paper, it looks as though it should be a quicker process, but there might be other reasons why some projects are not getting off the ground.

I am conscious of time, so I will hand back to the convener.

I have listened carefully to the minister and to colleagues, and I have read the briefings from interested stakeholders. It is very disappointing to have the further delay on top of previous delays.

I welcome the ambition, but there has to be more than a paper exercise. I am very concerned about the regulations, and I would like the Government to bring them back to Parliament with a scheme in which everyone can have confidence and which takes account of the concerns that the organisations that I mentioned earlier have raised. I would find it very difficult to give my backing to the proposed regulations as they stand.

If we are ambitious and serious, we have to find a way to make the scheme work. I have read that not everyone is impressed by the gateway process and not everyone feels included. A lot of lobbying has gone on.

Maurice Golden was right to pursue questions of transparency. People are not making party-political points; we really want the scheme to work. I know that the minister, in her heart, wants it to work, so she has to think again.

Those were the highlights of what the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland said. Concerns have also been expressed by the Marine Conservation Society, whose submission focuses on the environmental impact of your proposed delay. It reminds us that we are in

“the midst of an intertwined climate emergency and nature crisis”

and says that

“Scotland’s seas and beaches are bearing the brunt of the delays to DRS.”

What will be the environmental impact of your proposed delay?

Good morning. The Government is relying heavily on the gateway review, which has been mentioned. The committee has had a submission from the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland, which says that the gateway review and assurance of action plan is weak and has “many shortcomings”, one of the most obvious of which is the

“skewed choice of organisations interviewed.”

The submission goes on:

“Fully 40% of those spoken to were either Scottish Government or under their direct oversight ... and another 40% were producers or retailers. No organisations interviewed were operators of deposit return schemes”.

The association is also concerned that domestic and international experts were not spoken to, and says that that is the equivalent of

“trying to work out whether a vehicle could be fixed without speaking to a single mechanic.”

Is the association wrong?

Good morning, panel. I want to focus on procurement, which has been mentioned. The committee has heard about some of the challenges and we have had some good briefings on the issue. Will the witnesses talk about some of the positives when it comes to procurement, such as the implementation of the sustainable procurement duty? It sounds like the challenges are to do with skills and knowledge; what needs to happen in that regard? What are your top asks of local government and central Government on that? I will go to Barry McCulloch first.

Yes it does; thank you, Barry. Tracy, do you have any thoughts on SNIB?

It is good to hear you mention community wealth building.

Thank you, Tracy. The example of the Passivhaus and Exeter was interesting. I know that Alex Rowley MSP wants to propose a member’s bill on Passivhaus standards, so I hope that he will read the Official Report of this meeting.

We do not have a lot of time, so my second question is about the Scottish National Investment Bank. Barry McCulloch mentioned it in response to a question from Fiona Hyslop. Perhaps you could keep it really brief, because we are short of time. What is your view of the role of the Scottish National Investment Bank in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises and in delivering on net zero objectives?

I think that Barry was trying to come back in on Tracy’s point. I will hand over to Barry because he seems keen.

For my next question, I will stick with you, Mark, and then go back to the other witnesses. You made an interesting comment about communities often feeling that things are being done to them and not being fully engaged in the conversation. Taking the example of food waste, I ask each of you to give your perspective on how development trusts, community groups or community land owners can be involved in driving change and action and raising awareness. I recently spoke to Zero Waste Scotland about food waste, which is a hugely challenging issue for local authorities and right across the public and third sector. Mark, do you have any ideas or feedback on that?