Meeting of the Parliament 21 December 2023
In line with the requirements of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016, the Scottish Land Commission is one of a small number of public bodies for which ministerial appointments to the board are subject to parliamentary approval. Section 10(2) of the 2016 act sets out that
“The Scottish Ministers may appoint a person as a member only if the Scottish Parliament has approved the appointment.”
It does not specify the process that must be followed to obtain parliamentary approval. The parliamentary process to be followed on this occasion was agreed with the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee following an exchange of letters with me. That correspondence was published in full on the committee’s website on 18 December.
The committee agreed that it would take the same approach to consideration of those appointments as it took with the appointments to the board of Environmental Standards Scotland. That approach was to consider the role descriptions and person specifications prior to advertising; to receive information on the proposed candidates from the Scottish Government; to consider and come to a view on whether the process that was followed and the proposed appointments were satisfactory; and to make that view known to Parliament prior to a motion being brought to the chamber. In addition, the convener confirmed in a letter to me on 12 September that the committee had
“agreed not to hear from candidates (either at a formal meeting or informally) as part of the appointment process.”
Appointments to the Scottish Land Commission are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner for Scotland, and the appointments process has been conducted in line with the code of practice for ministerial appointments to public bodies in Scotland. Details of the agreed parliamentary process were subsequently published in the application information pack for candidates, as is required by the code of practice.
I appointed a selection panel to carry out the appointment process on my behalf, which consisted of the deputy director for land reform, rural and island policy at the Scottish Government; the outgoing chair of the Scottish Land Commission, Andrew Thin; and an independent panel member, Dr Patricia Armstrong.
The Ethical Standards Commissioner decided that the round should be overseen at all stages of the appointments process, meaning that an adviser from his office was also assigned to be a full member of the selection panel. I delegated the creation of the appointment plan, assessment and undertaking of the fit and proper persons test to the selection panel.
The code of practice requires that the selection panel recommend only the most able candidates to the appointing minister. I did not have visibility of the candidates ahead of the selection panel’s recommendations; I received a summary from the panel once the assessment was complete. The posts were publicised widely online and circulated to a wide list of stakeholders. Applications were encouraged from a diverse range of backgrounds, and the Scottish Land Commission ran two information events to enable potential applicants to find out more about the roles.
A total of 17 applications were received for the land commissioner roles, and seven applications were received for the role of chair. I am grateful to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee members for their engagement throughout the process and for their careful consideration of the appointments. I therefore welcome the committee’s recommendation, in its report to Parliament, that Michael Russell be approved as the next chair of the Scottish Land Commission—[Interruption.]—and that Craig Mackenzie and Deborah Roberts be approved as land commissioners—[Interruption.]