Meeting of the Parliament 16 March 2016
An issue that the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee raised in our consultation on the Scottish Government’s draft proposals was the need to take evidence from communities about the effectiveness of the guidance that will sit alongside the legislation. A clear lesson from the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 was that the guidance did not always assist communities in the way in which it was intended to do, because of how it was drafted and interpreted.
My aim in lodging amendments 57 and 58 was to ensure that the need to learn lessons from the implementation of this next stage of the land reform story is captured effectively and that ministers are able to consider the issue and change the guidance as they see fit, to improve its success.
As a result of amendments that I lodged to part 4 of the bill at stage 2, the Scottish ministers will be required to prepare and lay before the Parliament a report that assesses the extent to which section 37 guidance is being followed, no later than three years after the date on which the first part 4 guidance is issued. Subsequent reports are to be laid no later than three years after the date of the previous report. The committee accepted my amendments in that regard, and the minister supported them on the basis that the Scottish Government would welcome further discussion on how to strengthen the provisions and on the most appropriate review period.
Following further discussion with the minister, I am delighted that amendment 57 will strengthen the purpose of the report, so that, rather than simply assessing the extent to which part 4 guidance is being followed, it will assess the effectiveness of the guidance and set out the Scottish ministers’ views on further steps that they think should be taken to improve the effectiveness of the guidance. Amendment 58 will change the review period to within five years, rather than three, for all subsequent reports, to align with parliamentary terms. However, the first report must still be laid within three years of the date on which the first part 4 guidance is issued.
I am pleased that we have been able to have constructive discussions and I hope that members will be keen to support amendments 57 and 58, which will enable us to achieve momentum and make progress in the next parliamentary session.
I move amendment 57.