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Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee

The future of Scottish agriculture post-Brexit inquiry

Closed Opened 9 Oct 2018 Closed 9 Oct 2018

Scottish Affairs Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Inquiry scope (the committee's words)
Presentation: Scottish Affairs Committee visits the Isle of Lewis In this inquiry, the Scottish Affairs Committee seeks to investigate: What should be the priorities of any future agricultural support system in Scotland? Are the needs of the agricultural sector in Scotland different from the rest of the UK? What funding will Scotland’s agricultural sector require post-Brexit? What should future agricultural support in Scotland look like, and what goals should it seek to achieve? How should a future agricultural policy seek to accommodate different sectors of the farming community, especially those in remote and less favoured areas, and crofters? What should be included in common frameworks between the UK and devolved administrations in relation to agriculture? What balance should it strike between having a common UK-wide approach and providing flexibility to Scotland's needs? What should be done to meet the long-term labour needs of Scotland’s agricultural sector? What role can innovation & technology have in improving productivity in Scottish agriculture?

Where it stands

The inquiry is closed, opened 9 October 2018.

The committee has published 1 report, most recently 9th Report - The future of Scottish agriculture post-Brexit on 31 July 2019.

The government's response

Published 18 October 2019.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government's response accepts some of the Committee's recommendations, including the Bew Review's convergence funding approach, while saying that matters such as support for Less Favoured Area land are for the Scottish Government.

  • On funding, the Government will provide "an additional £160 million to Scottish farmers as a one-off payment" and will work with the devolved administrations on a fair approach to future allocations.
  • It agrees that funding allocation should rest on objective criteria, but agrees with the Bew Review that LFA is "an inappropriate measure for allocating funding", and says LFA support in Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Government.
  • On the Seasonal Workers Pilot, it says the Pilot "is not designed to meet the full labour needs of the horticultural sector" but will test the immigration system. Other sectors such as daffodils "would be considered for any future seasonal workers scheme".
  • On common frameworks, it plans to have the agricultural support framework in place "by the end of any Implementation Period or as soon as is practically possible" if policy could diverge.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

Reports

All reports

Evidence

  • 8 oral evidence sessionsLatest 5 June 2019
All evidence

Recent activity

Reports

1 report

Oral evidence sessions

8 sessions

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Date Session and witnesses Source
5 Jun 2019
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
14 May 2019
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
23 Apr 2019
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
19 Mar 2019
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
26 Feb 2019
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
28 Jan 2019
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
31 Oct 2018
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
30 Oct 2018
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗

Correspondence

13 letters

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PublishedDirectionLetter
16 Oct 2019 To committee Letter from the Chair to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, regarding the Government's response to the Committee's report on 'the future of Scottish agriculture post-Brexit, 16 October 2019
22 Jul 2019 To committee Letter from the Chief Executive of Concordia to the Chair, regarding seasonal agricultural workers, 2 July 2019
22 May 2019 To committee Letter from the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to the chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee, regarding appearance before the Scottish Affairs Committee, 15 May 2019
21 May 2019 To committee Letter from the Chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee to the Managing Director, Pro-Force, regarding the seasonal agricultural workers pilot, 21 May 2019
21 May 2019 To committee Letter from the Chair of Scottish Affairs Committee to the Chief Executive, Concordia, regarding the seasonal agricultural workers pilot, 21 May 2019
21 May 2019 To committee Response from Minister of State for Europe and the Americas, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, to the chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee, regarding the seasonal agricultural workers pilot scheme, 1 May 2019
21 May 2019 To committee Response from the Chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee the Minister of State for Immigration regarding issues of gaining visas under the seasonal agricultural workers pilot, 21 May 2019
21 May 2019 To committee Letter from the Minister of State for Immigration to the Chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee regarding issues of gaining visas under the seasonal agricultural workers pilot, 14 May 2019
14 May 2019 To committee Letter from the Chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, regarding appearance before the the Scottish Affairs Committee, 14 May 2019
26 Apr 2019 To committee Letter from Chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee to the Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office, regarding the implementation of the new seasonal agricultural workers pilot scheme, 25 April 2019
4 Dec 2018 Not recorded Correspondence from George Eustice MP to Pete Wishart MP regarding the Angus Growers case, dated 21 November 2018
20 Nov 2018 Not recorded Correspondence from Fergus Ewing MSP regarding WTO
20 Nov 2018 Not recorded Correspondence from Fergus Ewing MSP to Pete Wishart MP and Edward Mountain MSP