Committee
Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee 20 January 2016
20 Jan 2016 · S4 · Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee
Item of business
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
I call Sarah Boyack to speak to amendment 16A and other amendments in the group.
In the same item of business
The Convener
SNP
Item 4 is consideration of amendments to the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill. Today we will consider amendments from part 1 up to no further than part 5, apart f...
The Convener
SNP
We turn to the marshalled list of amendments. The first group relates to the purpose, content and effect of the land rights and responsibilities statement an...
The Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform (Aileen McLeod)
SNP
Good morning. Amendment 15 will change the definition of the land rights and responsibilities statement so that, instead of being a statement of the Scottish...
The Convener
SNP
I call Sarah Boyack to speak to amendment 16A and other amendments in the group.
Sarah Boyack
Lab
I listened with great interest to the minister’s opening statement. There was a huge amount of information in it, but I will try to pick up a couple of her p...
Michael Russell (Argyll and Bute) (SNP)
SNP
I thank the minister for the major step forward in amendment 16. She asserts that it is better than my amendment 72. I would not say “better”; it is equally ...
Graeme Dey
SNP
I will be brief. Amendment 17 seeks to make absolutely clear the interrelation that exists, which I think the minister has acknowledged, between land reform ...
The Convener
SNP
Do any other members wish to speak on the amendments?
Alex Fergusson (Galloway and West Dumfries) (Con)
Con
I start by saying that I am very disappointed that Graeme Dey will not move amendment 17, because I would have supported it as it addresses an issue that has...
Jim Hume (South Scotland) (LD)
LD
I would reiterate some of what Alex Fergusson has said about amendment 17, in the name of Graeme Dey. I appreciate the minister’s point that listing some str...
Claudia Beamish
Lab
I, too, am disappointed that Graeme Dey has chosen not to move amendment 17. I understand the reasons that he gave for that, but amendment 17 says “including...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you. No other members have comments, so I ask the minister to wind up.
Aileen McLeod
SNP
I appreciate all the comments that have been made by committee members. I hope that my opening statement and our amendment 16 have very clearly responded to ...
The Convener
SNP
I call amendment 17 in the name of Graeme Dey.
Graeme Dey
SNP
Not moved, convener.
Alex Fergusson
Con
I would like to move it, convener. Amendment 17 moved—Alex Fergusson. For Beamish, Claudia (South Scotland) (Lab Boyack, Sarah (Lothian) (Lab) Fergusson...
The Convener
SNP
The result of the division is: For 4, Against 5, Abstentions 0. Amendment 17 disagreed to.
The Convener
SNP
The next group of amendments is on consultation, procedure and so on on the land rights and responsibilities statement. Amendment 18, in the name of the mini...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
The purpose of amendment 18 is to require the Scottish ministers to “consult such persons as they consider appropriate” on a draft of the first land rights...
Michael Russell
SNP
Amendment 21 deals, for the greatest part, with my concerns about this issue for two reasons. The minister indicated that amendment 73 would tie down the sta...
Sarah Boyack
Lab
My amendment 7 is a relatively small amendment. Its intention is to make sure that we have a proper debate, discussion and review of the land rights and resp...
Claudia Beamish
Lab
The initial land rights and responsibilities statement and subsequent reviewed statements are significant documents that will underpin our future ownership a...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
I thank Michael Russell and Sarah Boyack for agreeing not to move their amendments. I am happy to take on board some of the points that Claudia Beamish raise...
Claudia Beamish
Lab
In view of the minister’s comments, which I appreciate, I will not move amendment 100. I look forward to hearing from the minister. Amendment 100 not moved....
The Convener
SNP
Well, there are only nine parts to go. Section 2—The Scottish Land Commission
The Convener
SNP
We move to the group on the Scottish land commission’s title. Amendment 101, in the name of Sarah Boyack, is the only amendment in the group.
Sarah Boyack
Lab
I want to add the word “reform” to the Scottish land commission’s title because I want it to reflect where the commission has come from. The commission is be...
Michael Russell
SNP
I was initially sympathetic to the amendment, but I take the opposite view to that of Sarah Boyack. The time has come to see the word “reform” as something f...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
I am grateful to Sarah Boyack for what she said about amendment 101. I agree absolutely that the land commission’s job is crucial to add impetus to change. I...
Sarah Boyack
Lab
I take the minister’s point that the intention is to make the land commission’s objective broader in light of the agricultural holdings legislation review gr...