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Absolutely. As I have said, we are trying to provide as much clarity, certainty and stability as possible, recognising the turbulence and challenges that businesses are facing. We know that those pressures are acute in our agriculture sector, for all the reasons that we have talked about. We have brought forward payments—we have made them at their earliest-ever stage—to help with cash flow, which we know has been an issue. We will continue to provide that stability over the coming financial year.

I have talked about the funding that we have already paid out through the basic payment scheme for greening. More than £424 million has been allocated towards that. The £65.5 million that we are getting out the door in LFASS payments has also been mentioned.

Let us look at the coming financial year and the budgets that we have in place. You touched on crofting. It is really important to mention some of the schemes that we continue to fund and look at. Our cash injections will help those communities. We have the croft house grant scheme and the crofting agricultural grant scheme. We have also provided extra funding to the Crofting Commission to deal with some of the particular crofting issues that we are aware of.

That is how we intend to provide support, and as much stability and clarity as we can, at a really challenging time.

I absolutely agree. To be honest, if I could put a lot more into that capital scheme, I would. However, I have outlined in my previous responses the challenges with regard to our capital budget. We have not seen the replacement funding come through, which has made things particularly challenging.

The first round of the sustainable agricultural capital grant scheme was very popular. However, as we received reduced capital allocations, we had to target that scheme where we thought that we would have the most effect, which is why we focused it on those elements, in particular, and why we are looking to fund those pieces of equipment that we know will have the biggest impact.

Of course, I would always welcome more funding and a bigger capital allocation, because we would then be able to do more. As it stands, with the budget that I have, and in relation to capital, we have to use and target that in the best way that we can.

I would not say that it has all gone wrong. As I said, we are still waiting for the final figures for that. Of course, I will be happy to keep the committee updated on those. We are keen to get that feedback, too. We have the funding there, and we want as high an uptake as possible and for people to be engaged. We have worked extensively on communications, contacting farmers directly to let them know about—

Those issues have been really important parts of the discussions. Somebody could tick a box to say that they have done that test but, as George said, what they do with the information that they have is really important. That is where those services will be vital.

I am happy to do that. As I said, our forecast spend on that is £2 million, so we expect that uptake to increase. I am happy to come back to the committee with further information.

The £5 million budget that has been allocated for that is for the sustainable agriculture capital grant scheme. In the current financial year, we have had £5 million available for that, and it has funded slurry store covers as well as slurry spreading equipment. On the utilisation of that fund, we made over 570 offers of grant and pretty much exhausted the fund, so there has been really strong uptake of that funding. Providing that the budget is agreed, of course, we will look to launch another scheme. We will announce the details of that in due course. Of course, we will be happy to keep the committee updated.

Yes. We are undertaking a pilot on that scheme at the moment, because it is the only scheme that we have had that is means tested. Some of the feedback that I have had on the fund suggests that it has been challenging for people to apply, and we want to make sure that there is support for small farmers. We are working with the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society—SAOS—to provide better support for small farms going forward and to utilise the funding in a way that works for them. Again, I am happy to come back to the committee with more information.

Suspending that fund for the coming year will obviously be disappointing, because it is a well-utilised fund that we run. I know of and have visited a number of businesses that have received funding from the scheme in the past. It provides the vital capital injection that many businesses need to improve their facilities.

We also know that the scheme has not been without its criticisms. One of the key criticisms that I have received about the food processing, marketing and co-operation grant scheme—we touched on this previously—is about the windows for spending the funding. In the current financial year, I announced the outcome of the round in November, and there is then a short window in which the money needs to be spent. Successful applicants have only a very short window in which to spend the funding that they have been awarded. Assessment for the scheme is also quite a long process.

We want to use the coming period to reflect on where improvements can be made to the scheme. I fully intend and hope to bring that scheme back in future years. However, we really want to use this period to reflect on it and see whether there is a way in which we can lengthen the application window to provide more time for the whole process to be run through, to consider questions about whether it is accessible enough for small businesses and to look at the criteria that we use for that fund.

I certainly hear some of that from businesses that I have engaged with that have been awarded funding. Of the criticisms of the scheme that I have talked about, I know that the period of time involved is a particular issue. George Burgess is probably closer to some of the detail on that, but the coming period is important, because it gives us the chance to reflect on the feedback and look at what changes, if any, need to be made to the scheme to ensure that it is fit for purpose and does what we want it to do.

It might not be as long a period as that. As George Burgess touched on in his response, we could be looking to open an application round so that the funding could be spent at an earlier stage.