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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

Russell, Michael SNP Argyll and Bute Watch on SPTV

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 good. It will be included at the very beginning of the bill, however, which is extremely important because the bill will say what the land statement will do. It will also say what the objectives of land reform are and what the land commission will do. It is extremely important that, at the very start of the bill, we know that land reform is about human rights, equal opportunities, reduction of inequalities, diversity in land ownership and the achievement of sustainable development. Those are vital. It will be welcome to see them expressed in the bill in that way, so I will not move amendment 72. I could express them differently, but I think that amendment 16 is a very good start. However, the nub of the argument comes in my amendment 97 and Sarah Boyack’s amendment 97A. I am pleased that the minister said that she is going to accept my amendment 75, because—although I do not question the bona fides of any Scottish minister past, present or even future—it is important that the bill ties them down to actually achieving the things that Parliament says it wants to achieve. The nub of the matter is what human rights are. It is important to pay attention to the letter that Sarah Boyack quoted from Alan Miller about human rights that we all saw yesterday. In her statement, the minister said that she would pay attention to the advice of the Scottish Human Rights Commission. I am sure that that is absolutely true and that every minister will do so—the advice of the Human Rights Commission is very important. That advice is here now: the letter that was received yesterday from Alan Miller of the Human Rights Commission gives it. The letter states that the international convention should have legal force, should be included in the legal documentation and be should a guiding document. However, it is important that the letter quotes the First Minister referring to existing rights as being the “floor not the ceiling”. It is regrettable that what we have heard today is about the proposals on rights being a ceiling that would confine the Scottish Government. Amendment 97 would not confine the Scottish Government, but would give a basis on which the Scottish Government could build a set of activities. However, the amendment makes it very clear what the Scottish Government and the land commission should consider in respect of land issues. I think that Sarah Boyack’s amendment 16A—if I might return her compliment—would be an important addition to the bill, and I would certainly support it. It will be a while before we vote on amendment 97; I doubt that we will get to it today, as it seeks to amend a section towards the end of the bill. However, I hope that the minister will reconsider her view of the amendment, because it is designed to be helpful and is certainly not designed to be constraining. It is designed to say, “Look, here are a range of things that we can consider, here are some opportunities to have international best practice and here is the floor from which we should operate”, exactly as Alan Miller said. I think that far from being something that should be resisted because it is too specific, the amendment should be welcomed because it would give very clear guidance on where to start from but would not constrain the issue of human rights. It is immensely welcome that the minister has said absolutely clearly—she led the way on this during the passage of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015—that human rights are central to land reform. Now, we need to embed that in the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill. The Scottish Human Rights Commission has given its advice and will go on giving that advice. I think that the committee should heed that advice—which came as recently as yesterday—about what we should be trying to do. We have an opportunity to do that.

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Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee 20 January 2016

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