Meeting of the Parliament 19 March 2026 [Draft]
I am delighted to support Beatrice Wishart’s final amendment, and, as that might be her final contribution, I would like to say that it has been an absolute pleasure to work with her. She has been an outstanding servant to her constituents, and we will miss her greatly in the next parliamentary session. [Applause.]
I support amendment 1 because it is important that the bill is clear that the flexibility that it offers for satisfying the duties applies equally to owner-occupier crofters.
I turn to my amendments. Amendment 2 will close a loophole that would have allowed someone who had been served a suspected breach of duty notice to submit an assignation application for the sole purpose of preventing the Crofting Commission from putting their other regulatory applications on hold. Amendment 2 will prevent that from happening.
My amendments 3 and 4 will ensure that all appeals under section 26K of the 1993 act are subject to the same rules, including the 42-day time limit, and the same statutory grounds of appeal.
My amendment 25 will simply reinstate the existing position so that the new duties notice can be sent by ordinary post to crofters and owner-occupier crofters.
I turn to Rhoda Grant’s amendments 38 to 41, all of which I am happy to support. In my many discussions with crofters and stakeholders, I have heard real concerns that some new owner-occupier crofters are not fully aware of their duties before they take on their croft. That is why I have been happy to work with Rhoda Grant on these amendments. Similarly, I am happy to support Rhoda Grant’s amendment 42, which will help to provide valuable guidance to crofters on how the Crofting Commission will assess applications for consent to be absent. I meet regularly with the Crofting Commission’s chief executive officer and chair, and I welcome their commitment to providing interim policy guidance on that and other issues. Such guidance is already available on their website.