As the cabinet secretary will be aware, during the new year floods in my constituency, the town of Castle Douglas was partially flooded in an almost unprecedented situation. The source of that flooding was some 30 miles away in the upper reaches of the Water of Deuch, where there is widespread commercial forestry activity and a Scottish Power hydro scheme.

In considering improved flood mitigation, what steps is the Government taking to bring interests such as forestry and energy generators into discussions, along with the normal agencies such as SEPA, Scottish Natural Heritage and the others to which the cabinet secretary alluded in his response?