Seòmar agus comataidhean

Yes, if an issue was identified as a priority. There are several elements there. We can look at the funding that is currently available in relation to housing, which has been set out in the broader housing documents. We have the rural and islands housing plan and the action plan on the back of that, which is about looking at different models of delivery and at what works in different parts of Scotland and how we can best utilise and encourage that. The overall funding for that is projected to increase to about £37 million over the next few years. Wherever we can align those projects, we should do so. They should not—and they would not—be happening in isolation.

Ultimately, the national islands plan is about how all the parts of Government are delivering for our islands community. That is set out in some of the objectives in the plan, in relation to not only housing but transport and other areas.

I do not want anybody hanging in limbo when it concerns matters as serious as that. The budget has now been published—it was a bit later than anybody would have liked, of course, but we want to give people that security as early as possible. I am not sure whether that funding has been 100 per cent confirmed, but I will follow up and ensure that that is the case.

I am happy to follow up on that. My officials will correct me if I am wrong, but I think that some of the budget in that line has been transferred to another budget line for the Scottish rural network, in order to bring all the funding available for networking into the same place.

The rural cohesion budget line also sets out our portfolio’s contribution to the depopulation action plan. We have been funding community settlement officers. That has been a really positive initiative, and it is where that funding has tended to be allocated.

Unless I am corrected—and I am more than happy to follow up with more detail if I am wrong—I believe that that is where the decrease in that particular line has come from. There has been an adjustment, and the funding has been moved elsewhere.

I knew that it was under active discussion and that it had been a Government commitment for a number of years, so that element of it was not particularly a surprise.

I completely recognise that. Of course, we have heard the concerns that have been expressed but, as I say, there are exceptions. There is still more work to be done, and the bill is still working its way through Parliament at the moment. We need to have those further discussions, but I think that we have always been clear—I set it out to Parliament during the passage of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill—that the issue has been under consideration for some time but we do not want to take an approach that either undermines the work that we have been doing or that has an impact on family farms or crofts in Scotland. That is where we have to make sure that we get this right.

I will certainly try my best on that front.

I thank the committee for inviting me to provide evidence on the 2026-27 budget and the allocations that have been made to my portfolio. Of course, the draft budget was published last Tuesday and is focused on a sustainable and impactful programme that will deliver for the people of Scotland.

The Scottish Government continues to face significant pressures, including a constrained funding settlement from the United Kingdom spending review, rising costs across public services and demographic trends that increase demand for health and social care. Following the UK autumn budget, resource funding is expected to grow by only an average of 1.1 per cent in real terms each year across the forecast period. For capital funding, the position is even more challenging. Scotland’s capital block grant is due to reduce in real terms by 0.3 per cent in each year to 2029-30. Nevertheless, this budget and the Scottish spending review protect and build on the substantial investments that the Government has already delivered.

Rural affairs, land reform and islands remains a strategic priority for the Government, and the budget will invest more than £1.1 billion across the portfolio in 2026-27. We will continue to provide Scotland’s farmers, crofters and land managers with the most generous package of direct support in the UK, investing more than £660 million in support for agriculture. We are continuing to invest in our livestock sector through the voluntary coupled support scheme and less favoured area support scheme. We continue to support crofting through £4.4 million for the crofting agricultural grant scheme and croft house grant scheme. We are investing £25 million in the agri-environment climate scheme to directly support action to reduce emissions and enhance nature. We also have £26 million of capital funding that is going to support transformation and reform in Scotland’s farming and food production industries.

Delivering on our climate commitments is, of course, a key priority in order to meet our legal obligations, as well as our moral obligations to future generations, and to support sustainable jobs and thriving communities across Scotland. In order to ensure that our land and forests will continue to help us to tackle climate change, protect nature and support green jobs, skills and businesses, we are investing £28 million to restore more than 10,000 hectares of peatland, and we are investing £37 million to create more than 12,000 hectares of woodland. Critically, those investments will allow us to meet our climate change plan targets.

Our island communities will benefit from a new national islands plan, with more than £7 million to support the islands programme and our carbon-neutral islands project, and £9.3 million will be invested in community-led local development.

We continue to target our marine budget towards blue economy outcomes and our responsibilities for the integrated management of Scotland’s seas. Funding of £16.6 million for the marine fund Scotland will be available to support marine businesses and coastal communities to deliver innovation and sustainable development across Scotland. That increase in the fund includes the first year of the fishing and coastal growth funding, although the approach that the United Kingdom Government has taken constrains our investment, given that Scotland’s allocation simply does not recognise the size and importance of the fishing sector in Scotland.

My priorities are clear, and I am committed to ensuring that my portfolio delivers a lasting impact for our rural, coastal and island communities and industries.

With that, I am happy to take questions from the committee.

First of all, I am proud of our commitment to maintain our direct support to farmers and crofters. I think that being able to provide that stability has been crucial, especially at a time when we have seen those payments essentially fall off a cliff elsewhere in the UK.

There have been calls from environmental non-governmental organisations and industry representatives for an increase to the budget, but we are in a situation in which we never saw the Brexit promises from the previous UK Government materialise regarding the funding that we should expect to receive. That UK Government funding has stayed flat. That situation has continued and has, in fact, worsened with the change in how funding is allocated from the UK Government to the Scottish Government.

Yes, we have maintained the budget at a similar level, but we are supplementing it with our own funding. It is important to recognise—

Well, you can look at the overall ring-fencer baseline allocation, which is £620 million—

Yes, the overall numbers have stayed the same. I appreciate exactly what you are saying about the inflationary impact of that and what it means in real terms. We have maintained the overall level, but it is hard to deliver more when we are not receiving any more from the UK as we would have done previously.

We are helping farmers and crofters to deliver more. I have talked about the funding that was provided through the national test programme for the whole farm plan, but, outwith agriculture, we also have the changes that we have made to the forestry grant scheme to increase the rates and to encourage smaller-scale planting. For example, amazing work has been done through the integrating trees network to show the wider benefits that come from planting trees on farms, for the environment and animal health and welfare, as well as for the wider business.

We are always looking at the different schemes to see what we can do to encourage more of that, whether it is about tree planting or providing support for people to undertake some of the important baselining work.