Hansard

The Convener SNP

Our second item is evidence on the draft Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land) Regulations 2020. I welc...

Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green) Green

I welcome the minister to his new portfolio. I have a couple of questions about public accessibility of the new register. You will have seen from evidence th...

The Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment (Ben Macpherson) SNP

I thank Mark Ruskell for his questions. The register will be integrated on the system with other registers that are held by Registers of Scotland, and will b...

Robin Cornwall (Scottish Government)

The first thing to say is that Registers of Scotland is at the very early stages of developing the system, because it does not want to pre-empt the parliamen...

Mark Ruskell Green

Right. I have a related supplementary question. When do you expect that register to go live? We have been waiting a long time; the initial consultation was i...

Ben Macpherson SNP

Collectively, we want that to be implemented as quickly as possible. Of course, I am aware and grateful that the committee appropriately accepted the Cabinet...

Mark Ruskell Green

I have one more question. Are you 100 per cent sure that the regulations align with the 2018 European Union anti-money laundering directive?

Ben Macpherson SNP

I will allow officials to come in on that shortly. The regulations have been designed to incorporate Westminster changes, including proposed company law legi...

Robin Cornwall

Yes—we are content that the regulations comply with that directive.

Mark Ruskell Green

It is good to have that on the record.

The Convener SNP

We are having difficulty getting Finlay Carson back, but I know what he was going to ask, so I will ask it on his behalf. The committee understands that Sco...

Ben Macpherson SNP

Robin Cornwall can come in on that, having liaised with Registers of Scotland on the more technical side of implementation and on ScotLIS.

Robin Cornwall

Yes. On the two tiers of access, I believe that free access takes you to the boundaries of the specific title number and the last sale price of the property....

The Convener SNP

So, that is a change from the existing arrangements: there will not be two tiers any more, and everyone will just have free access to everything. Is that wha...

Robin Cornwall

No—they will not have free access to the land register data. The information that will be held by the register that the committee is discussing with us will ...

The Convener SNP

Okay, but for access to the enhanced information, there will be a fee of £3. Is that per search?

Robin Cornwall

As far as I am aware, the fee is per search, although I would have to double check that with Registers of Scotland.

The Convener SNP

I will move on to the other thing that Finlay Carson was wanting to ask. We have asked whether there is a view on a requirement to have a Scotland registered...

Ben Macpherson SNP

For clarity, the register that we are talking about today will be free. As has been articulated previously by officials, the charges have been significantly ...

Robin Cornwall

There is no requirement within the regulations to provide an address in Scotland; the key thing is that there must be an address at which the person is conta...

Ben Macpherson SNP

There are concerns that overseas legal entities that own, or that lease land under a long lease of 20-plus years, can often be opaque, so it can be hard to i...

The Convener SNP

Finlay Carson will probably want to follow up on a couple of those answers. If we cannot get him back, I might suspend the meeting briefly. Before we do that...

Claudia Beamish (South Scotland) (Lab) Lab

I welcome the minister to his first session with the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee. I wish to follow up on an aspect that you touche...

Ben Macpherson SNP

As you alluded to in your question, the criminal penalties that we have included in the regulations are the maximum that are permitted under the 2016 act. Th...

Claudia Beamish Lab

Thank you; I wanted to highlight that point, as stakeholders have highlighted it to us. I tend to agree with it, but there we are.

The Convener SNP

We do not seem to have been able to get Finlay Carson back while we have been live on air, so I suspend the meeting briefly. 13:47 Meeting suspended. 13:52...

The Convener SNP

We appear to have sorted out the technical issue with Finlay Carson’s connection. Finlay, I am not sure whether you heard the minister’s responses to the que...

Ben Macpherson SNP

Thank you, convener. I could proceed through the opening statement that I intended to make, if that would be helpful to the committee.

The Convener SNP

That would be helpful. I should have allowed you to do that in the first place, so I apologise. If you give your statement, members can then ask any other qu...

Ben Macpherson SNP

Thank you, convener. As members know, the regulations, if they are approved by Parliament, will bring into force part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 20...