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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 18 July 2025
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Displaying 930 contributions

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Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 28 September 2023

Kate Forbes

So it is a question of cash rather than the budget itself. In other words, it is the cash being allocated in two weeks’ time, not the budget being agreed.

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 28 September 2023

Kate Forbes

I understand.

What impact will this have on reserves? I take your point that this is a one-off and that by their nature reserves should not be used for on-going resource payments, but what percentage or proportion of reserves does the £6.6 million form?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 28 September 2023

Kate Forbes

Are you able to share with us the quantum of the reserves position?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 27 September 2023

Kate Forbes

I am fairly new to the committee, but I understand that, off the back of last year’s engagement with local authorities, it was largely felt that this year’s application process was much better, so taking on board the feedback from the committee and the local authorities has been positive. Thanks for doing that, cabinet secretary.

Two themes came through in the response that we got when we wrote to the six island local authorities, which had said that the process was much better. One was that applications are resource intensive. It always concerns me when it costs a lot of money to access a lot of money. What is your response to that? How can you reduce the onerous burden on already stretched local authority staff when they make applications?

The second theme, which we have heard about for the past few years, is the cluttered nature of our funding landscape. Local authorities are trying to cobble together different funding options for investment, but that makes it cluttered. Have you considered the scope for combining schemes under the heading of the islands programme?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 27 September 2023

Kate Forbes

I have a series of short questions on workers. First, as a brief aside, I note that it is somewhat fortuitously exactly a year since you published the proposals for a bespoke rural visa. I mention that in the context of the National Farmers Union saying that about £60 million-worth of food was wasted last year as a result of labour shortages. Have you had a response from the UK Government yet to the proposal for a bespoke rural visa?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 27 September 2023

Kate Forbes

I have just one small follow-up question about the extent to which you have reviewed the criteria. There is always a trade-off between being too rigid in saying what the money can be used for and giving local authorities a lot of freedom and flexibility. Do you think that you are getting that right?

09:30  

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 27 September 2023

Kate Forbes

My final question is about support, advice and training for workers who are currently in the sector—I mean crofters, farmers and farm workers. In 2022, there was a PFG commitment to invest more in skills and advice for farmers and crofters, not least to support the just transition. Can you tell us a little about the funding that has been allocated to that and the progress that has been made in supporting those workers?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 27 September 2023

Kate Forbes

On your concerns about the number of workers that we have in the agriculture sector, do you feel that we face another challenging year?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 27 September 2023

Kate Forbes

Thanks very much.

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2024-25

Meeting date: 21 September 2023

Kate Forbes

I will come back in briefly. That has all been extremely useful. The point that we could return to—maybe not in this session but in future—is the point that Liam Sinclair made, which is that if we accept that there are significant outcomes when there is joint working, how do we formalise that joint working on a macro level? That only worked between health and social care when joint boards had to share a budget. That is formalising it on a macro level—a universal level. We need to further unpack how we get to a point where people share budgets in order to embed preventative spend.