Hansard

Thank you, Presiding Officer—and I begin this stage 1 debate by thanking a lot of other people, too. Although “stage 1” suggests that we are at the first stage, all parliamentarians will know how much work has gone into the bill before this stage, as is the case with all bills.

My colleague and predecessor Derek Mackay took what began as a scattered set of suggestions in the Scottish National Party manifesto, tended the proposals through two consultations and 40 engagement events and helped them to spring forth in the bill that we consider today. All I can say is that he took much better care of the proposals than he took of the plant in what is now my office in Victoria Quay.

I thank the Finance Committee and the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee for their consideration of the bill. Most of all, I thank the two subject committees: I thank Kevin Stewart and the members of the Local Government and Regeneration Committee; and I thank Rob Gibson and the members of the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee, who looked at part 4, on the community right to buy, in particular.

The two subject committees produced a ream of recommendations—I mean “ream”; the paper in front of me runs to 44 pages. The Government will consider all the recommendations closely in advance of stage 2. In the spirit of producing the best possible bill, we will also consider ideas that members put forward today.

The committees were no doubt helped by their efforts to take evidence from an unusually wide range of organisations and individuals. Meetings took place in Fort William and Dumfries, and there was innovative use of social media and online video to help explain aspects of the bill. It is heartening to see colleagues making it easy for people to participate in the development of a bill that should be all about participation.

Thanks are also due to everyone who took the time to offer their views and experiences to the committees or the Scottish Government. Time and time again, I have been encouraged to hear organisations and individuals express confidence that the bill will make a real difference in helping to make public bodies and agencies look at community empowerment in a different way.

I come to the debate to present the bill and endorse its aims, and to ask members of all parties to join together to back it. We all know that communities can do great things when they are empowered to achieve their own goals, given the freedom to choose their own path, given responsibility for their surroundings and trusted to take their own decisions.

In places such as Craigmillar, Inverness, Govanhill, Irvine and Kilmarnock, I have met grass-roots groups that are doing remarkable things in their communities, in their own way and on their own terms. There is so much talent out there—it just needs a bit of self-belief, some encouragement and the taking away of unnecessary obstacles.

That is what the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill sets out to do. By creating new rights for community bodies and conferring new duties on a range of public authorities, it will provide a new legal framework and, I hope, stimulate the growth of a new mindset—we can never legislate for that—which will promote and encourage community empowerment and participation.

Since the bill’s introduction in June, the demand for participation and empowerment has grown. Our historic referendum proved, if proof were needed, that people will get involved when they know the issues that are at stake and that they can make a difference to them.

Members across the chamber believe in more powers for this Parliament, because that, too, is a form of bringing control over decision making closer to the people whom decisions affect.

We now need to build on that new sense of what can be achieved. The bill contributes to the spirit of democratic renewal. It does so tangibly, in ways that can instantly be recognised—even if I accept the Local Government and Regeneration Committee’s point that things can sometimes be hidden by a bit of gobbledegook. We have done our best to produce an easy-read policy memorandum and we will put our guidance in plain English—more than anything else, we accept that recommendation.

Part 1 will put into statute the national outcomes approach, which is currently represented by Scotland performs, and will place duties on the Scottish Government to develop, consult on, publish, review and report on a set of indicators for the kind of Scotland that we want to see. For the community of the whole nation, that has to be, and will be, an empowering process.

Part 2 puts community planning partnerships into statute, and we will develop the role and performance of CPPs, not least by ensuring that public bodies work together in CPPs and with the public.

Through the participation requests in part 3, the bill will give communities a new power to enter into dialogue with public authorities to ensure that their voices are always heard. That simple power will remind everyone that communities should always be around the table when decisions that affect them are being taken.

The provisions in part 4, on which my colleague the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform will lead, deal with the community right to buy that exists in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. Part 4 will simplify the process and make it more flexible, and it will extend the type of community bodies that are able to access the right to buy. Crucially, it will expand the extent of the communities that can take forward such a right: the community right to buy will be extended from rural Scotland to all of Scotland.

The community right to buy will also be extended through the introduction of a right to buy neglected or abandoned land, even where there is no willing seller. We recognise that committees and stakeholders have all asked for clarification of the type of land that is covered by that provision. We have sought stakeholders’ views and have discussed with them what would be required. My colleague the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform will therefore provide draft regulations in advance of stage 2 that will detail the matters that must be considered when the question whether land is neglected or abandoned is determined. Those matters could include the physical condition of the land and the use, or lack of use, to which it is being put and the effect that that has on the surrounding land.

Part 5 will make it easier for communities to take control of a public asset. Whether it is a community centre, a patch of public land or whatever, the sky is the limit for what can be achieved by the ingenuity and local knowledge released by community participation.

The common good asset registers in part 6 will mean more transparency over common good assets as well as increased community involvement in the decisions that are taken about them.

Part 7 will create a new duty on local authorities to keep a waiting list of those who want an allotment, which will be paired with a duty to “take reasonable steps” to ensure that those waiting lists do not grow too long. Let me be clear: that will mean more allotments.