Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024

2 Rural support plan

(1) The Scottish Ministers must—

(a) prepare a plan (a “rural support plan”) giving information about the expected use during the plan period of the powers conferred on them by section 6, and

(b) exercise their functions under this Act having regard to that plan.

(2) A rural support plan must set out—

(a) the plan period,

(b) the Scottish Ministers’ strategic priorities for providing support during the plan period,

(c) an overview of the support expected to be provided during the plan period, including—

(i) an indication of the total amount of support that is expected to be provided over the period,

(ii) a description of the way in which support is to be structured (for example, by reference to support schemes that are to be paid in a certain way or for certain purposes or activities),

(iii) an indication of how the total amount of support is to be divided between support schemes,

(iv) an indication of the time periods for when particular support schemes may become operational or end,

(v) any measures that are intended to benefit small producers, tenant farmers and crofters, and

(vi) any specific outcomes that the Scottish Ministers are seeking to achieve (whether in respect of different support schemes or otherwise),

(d) in such manner and giving such detail as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate, a description of each support scheme that—

(i) is in operation, or

(ii) the Scottish Ministers expect to come into operation during the plan period, and

(e) the manner in which the impact of each support scheme will be monitored for the purposes of section 21.

(3) A rural support plan may—

(a) describe how the Scottish Ministers consider the support provided under the plan will—

(i) reduce greenhouse gas emissions (within the meaning of section 10 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009) from agriculture,

(ii) reduce harm from pesticides,

(iii) reduce nitrogen loss and waste,

(iv) optimise the proportion of land which is farmed organically,

(v) optimise the proportion of land which is used for agroforestry,

(vi) improve the biodiversity of agricultural land, including the contribution of agriculture to landscape-scale nature recovery,

(vii) protect and improve the welfare conditions of farmed animals,

(viii) improve the quality of ground and surface water, and

(b) include such further information as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate.

(4) A plan prepared under this section must be laid before the Scottish Parliament, and published, by the Scottish Ministers—

(a) in the case of the first plan, as soon as practicable after this section comes into force, and

(b) in the case of a subsequent plan, at least 6 months before the end of the plan period of the preceding plan.

(5) The Scottish Ministers may amend the rural support plan within the plan period if—

(a) their strategic priorities for providing support change, or

(b) it appears to them that any information set out in the plan in accordance with subsection (2)(d) has ceased to be accurate and complete.

(6) Where the Scottish Ministers amend a plan, they must as soon as reasonably practicable—

(a) lay the amended plan before the Scottish Parliament, and

(b) publish it.

(7) For the purposes of this section, the “plan period” is the period to which the plan relates and—

(a) in the case of the first plan, is the period of 5 years beginning with the day on which it is published,

(b) in the case of each subsequent plan, is the period of five years beginning on the day after the preceding plan period ends.

(8) The plan period of a rural support plan is not affected by the Scottish Ministers amending the plan under subsection (5).

(9) A reference in this Act to the rural support plan is (unless the context otherwise requires) a reference to the plan which has most recently been published under this section.

(10) For the purposes of this section, “support scheme” means a scheme operated by the Scottish Ministers for the provision of support under or by virtue of this Act.

(11) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations modify subsection (3) to add, adjust or remove information that may be included in a rural support plan.

(12) Regulations under subsection (11) are subject to the affirmative procedure.