Committee
Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee 06 December 2017
06 Dec 2017 · S5 · Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee
Item of business
Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
During stage 1, the committee heard evidence from a number of stakeholders that the provisions in the bill relating to delegation of land management functions to community bodies, in particular sections 18, 19 and 20, are at best unnecessary and at worst will introduce additional complexity and bureaucracy for groups that seek to get involved in land management. That view was expressed in the context of the commencement in January this year of part 5 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, which deals with asset transfer. We also heard concerns that the definition of “community body” in the bill is different from that in other community empowerment legislation—notably, the 2015 act—which, potentially, will cause confusion. The cabinet secretary for rural economy assured the committee during his stage 1 evidence that officials were aware of and were looking into the potential overlap between the bill and asset transfer legislation. On 3 November, the Scottish Government gave a response to the committee’s stage 1 report, in which the cabinet secretary confirmed that officials were considering the matter “with a view to bringing forward any necessary amendments at Stage 2”. In the event, we have seen no amendments from the Government. I refer the cabinet secretary to the views of key stakeholders, who have advised that the provisions are unnecessary and should be removed from the bill. I consider that the stakeholders are right, so my amendments seek to leave out sections 18, 19 and 20. Existing legislation—namely, the asset transfer provisions under the 2015 act—delivers the necessary outcomes for communities. Members should note that amendment 44 seeks to remove section 19: agreement to it would therefore make Jamie Greene’s amendment 132, which seeks to amend that section, unnecessary. I move amendment 23.
In the same item of business
The Convener (Edward Mountain)
Con
Welcome to the committee’s 35th meeting in 2017. I ask everyone to make sure that mobile phones are on silent. Agenda item 1 is stage 2 consideration of the...
The Convener
Con
Group 1 is on the purpose of the bill. Amendment 14, in the name of Rhoda Grant, is the only amendment in the group.
Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab)
Lab
Amendment 14 would introduce a purpose section to the bill. The intention is to add clarity about the purpose of the bill. We all know that the bill came abo...
Jamie Greene (West Scotland) (Con)
Con
The only comment that Conservatives have to make is that, in principle, we agree with Rhoda Grant’s suggestion that there should be an overarching purpose to...
John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP)
SNP
My view is very much on the same lines as Jamie Greene’s. A purpose section for a bill is an extremely good thing. The Parliament was set up with the stateme...
Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP)
SNP
Alas and alack, if we put the section in, it will be the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law. Its effect is to restrict the scope of the bill, ra...
John Finnie (Highlands and Islands) (Green)
Green
I support amendment 14. Everything is open to interpretation. There is clarity about what has been said there, and the section is a worthwhile addition to th...
The Convener
Con
Cabinet secretary, before I ask Rhoda Grant to wind up, are there any comments that you would like to make on the amendment?
The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity (Fergus Ewing)
SNP
Good morning, convener and members of the committee. At the outset, I would like to thank members of all parties for the constructive meetings that I had pr...
Rhoda Grant
Lab
It is important to have a purpose section in the bill. An awful lot of the amendments that we will consider later were lodged because there is no such sectio...
The Convener
Con
Group 2 is on a sustainable forest management code of practice. Amendment 118, in the name of Gail Ross, is grouped with amendment 119.
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP)
SNP
The purpose of amendments 118 and 119 is to include in the bill a duty to develop a statutory method of assessing and monitoring sustainable forest managemen...
Jamie Greene
Con
There are admirable intentions behind amendments 118 and 119. There is certainly a shared opinion that section 2 is quite light on detail about the duties on...
Rhoda Grant
Lab
On a point of clarification, Gail Ross said that the purpose of amendments 118 and 119 is to enshrine the UK forestry standard in the bill, but from my readi...
Gail Ross
SNP
The purpose is to adopt the code of practice that currently exists under the UK forestry standard.
Rhoda Grant
Lab
Okay.
The Convener
Con
Gail, if you are asked a question, you may deal with it when you wind up the debate.
Gail Ross
SNP
Sorry. 09:30
Fergus Ewing
SNP
I appreciate the efforts that Gail Ross is making with this amendment to address concerns that were raised during stage 1 about the definition and technical ...
The Convener
Con
I ask Gail Ross to wind up and press or withdraw amendment 118.
Gail Ross
SNP
I thank Jamie Greene, Rhoda Grant and the cabinet secretary for their input. Amendment 118 is a probing amendment. Given the cabinet secretary’s comments, I ...
The Convener
Con
The third group of amendments is on forestry strategy: content. Amendment 120, in the name of Rhoda Grant, is grouped with amendments 1, 7, 8, 116 and 117.
Rhoda Grant
Lab
Section 3 refers to the forestry strategy and the need for it to include Scottish Government “objectives, priorities and policies” with respect to certain th...
Mike Rumbles (North East Scotland) (LD)
LD
My view is that this is a good bill that will be helpful to forestry in Scotland. Because it is such a good bill, I was surprised to find that we would be de...
Peter Chapman (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
I will move amendment 7. There is an omission in the bill, in that it contains no targets on how much planting we want as we go forward. I am keen to see mor...
The Convener
Con
I remind members that they do not need to move their amendments at this stage.
John Finnie
Green
Amendment 8 is about increasing the percentage of native woodland. The predominant species in Scotland is the Sitka spruce, which is a non-native species tha...
Richard Lyle (Uddingston and Bellshill) (SNP)
SNP
The bill will, among other things, repeal the Forestry Act 1967, which gives ministers “the general duty of promoting the interests of forestry, the develop...
Stewart Stevenson
SNP
Unusually, I want to encourage Mike Rumbles to at least speak to amendment 2, as the lead amendment in group 6, because if he does not do so, we will not be ...
Fergus Ewing
SNP
I thank members for an interesting discussion. I am grateful to Mike Rumbles, Peter Chapman, John Finnie, Richard Lyle and Rhoda Grant for lodging the amendm...