Hansard

I am pleased to open this debate on the Crofting and Scottish Land Court Bill. I thank the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee for its detailed scrutiny of the bill and all those who have given evidence during stage 1. Most importantly, I thank the crofting communities for their invaluable insights and contributions, including the people I spoke to during my visits to Lewis, Harris and Skye.

I look forward to working constructively with members from all parties as we progress this important piece of legislation, and I hope that, today, we can all agree to support its general principles, as the committee recommended in its stage 1 report.

The bill has two main parts, and I will begin by focusing on part 1, which is the crofting element.

Crofting is a part of who we are. It was and is a hard-earned living tradition that shapes our rural land and communities. Around 15,000 crofters care for around 750,000 hectares of Scotland’s land, and this Government backs them with more than £40 million every year because crofting matters—it matters to our past, our present and our future.

Crofting has much potential. It provides opportunities for new entrants and young people to make a life in the places that they know and love. We can assist that by supporting a range of approaches to crofting, including agritourism, local food networks, peatland restoration and livestock production, to name but a few.

The proposals that have been considered came from a variety of sources, including the crofting law sump and issues that were identified and raised by stakeholders over three years of close collaboration.

Over summer 2024, we carried out a consultation, and my officials ran 15 public events throughout the crofting counties, which were attended by 257 people. I take this opportunity to thank my officials for their hard work and their efforts to ensure that we have a solid bill that has wide stakeholder support.

The bill will deliver positive changes, building on previous reforms. Let me be clear: it represents another step on the journey that we are committed to continue as we work with our crofting communities to secure their future.

Crofting law is extremely complex, and even where there is consensus that something needs changing, it is often difficult to reach consensus on what the remedy should be. Developing proposals and identifying workable solutions requires time, and I think that crofting stakeholders are sympathetic to that.

However, the bill is more than just a technical bill; it is also an enabling bill, delivering a number of meaningful improvements to legislation. It will give crofters more options for how they use their land; allow around 700 people to apply to become a crofter; streamline the enforcement of duties and the family assignation process; prevent crofters who are in breach of their duties from profiteering and removing land from the crofting tenure; and prevent the accidental separation of a grazing share from an inby croft. In addition, landlords and subtenants will be able to report breaches of duty to the Crofting Commission, and crofters will be able to apply to the commission for boundary and registration changes.

That amounts to significant change, and the bill will make crofting regulation less onerous for active crofters and the commission, and flexible enough to grasp new opportunities and cope with future challenges.

As I set out in my written response to the committee, I am committed to ensuring that the views that were raised through the evidence sessions and on the bill are considered. We are therefore carefully considering a small number of possible amendments, which include strengthening the wording in the bill on the “environmental use” of crofts, providing flexibility to allow non-natural persons to take title of a croft, maintaining linkages between the crofting register and the land register when adjusting boundaries and, where applicable, maintaining a relationship between the grazing share and the inby croft.

This reform should not be viewed in isolation, but must be seen alongside the work that is being done by the Crofting Commission. It is important to note that the interplay between legislation and the commission’s policy plan is vital. The legislation provides the necessary framework, and the plan provides the detail of how the commission will administer and regulate.

The commission has the legislative tools, and it now also has the resources to carry out its functions. The changes in the bill will further support the commission’s work in processing regulatory applications and tackling breaches of duty. I will continue working with the commission to ensure that it creates more opportunities for new entrants and for young people to enter crofting.

The bill prepares the ground for what comes next. It will help to lay a stronger and healthier foundation for crofting, where we aim to have increased residency levels and more people using their crofts and common grazings. We will then be in a better place to carefully consider what reform is needed for the future.

I turn to part 2 of the bill, which provides for the merger of the Scottish Land Court and the Lands Tribunal for Scotland. That is a measured and administrative reform; it is also one with practical importance for how land and property disputes are determined in Scotland. Work on the reforms was initiated back in 2015 by Lord Minginish, following his appointment as the chair of the Scottish Land Court and president of the Lands Tribunal, and it has continued under Lord Duthie, who is the current judicial head of both bodies.

The provisions in the bill will give legislative effect to the work and are grounded on three principles: simplicity, coherence and flexibility. Those principles remain central to part 2 of the bill that is before us today.

On simplicity, the bill replaces the two bodies operating in closely related areas of law and already sharing the same judicial leadership with a single unified court. That removes unnecessary structural complexity while preserving specialist jurisdictions.

On coherence, the committee heard evidence from the judicial stakeholders about the statutory overlap and procedural anomalies arising from the parallel operation of the court and the tribunal, particularly with regard to agricultural holdings and land reform registration. The merger resolves those issues and provides a clearer and more consistent framework.

On flexibility, the bill allows legal, agricultural and valuation expertise to be deployed more effectively across the court’s jurisdiction. The administrative integration that is already in place has demonstrated the benefits of a unified approach, and the bill builds on that experience.

In their consideration of the bill, members of the judiciary, including the chairman of the Land Court, Lord Duthie, raised important points about appeals and procedure, particularly for tribunal-type cases that are transferred into the court. I confirm that we will continue to engage with the judiciary and will introduce stage 2 amendments to ensure that those points are properly addressed.

Alongside the merger provisions, the bill also enables suitably qualified members of the merged court and—on a transitional basis—members of the Lands Tribunal for Scotland to act in the Upper Tribunal. The intention of those provisions is to enhance the resilience of the Upper Tribunal by giving it access to a broader range of expertise when that is required.

The reform that is brought in by the bill modernises structures without diluting tradition. It creates a more integrated, coherent and flexible system for resolving land and property disputes for Scotland’s crofting and rural communities. I commend the bill to the chamber.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees to the general principles of the Crofting and Scottish Land Court Bill.