The Local Government and Communities Committee reports to the Parliament as follows—

The Asset Transfer Request (Designation of Relevant Authority) (Scotland) Order 2019 was laid before the Parliament on 28 January 2019 and was referred to the Local Government and Communities Committee for consideration.

This instrument is subject to affirmative procedure (Rule 10.6) and it is for this Committee to recommend to the Parliament whether the Order should be approved.

This Order designates VisitScotland as a relevant authority for the purpose of Part 5 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.

The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered this instrument at its meeting on 5 February 2019 and determined that it did not need to draw the attention of the Parliament to the instrument on any grounds within its remit.

At its meeting on 27 February 2019, the Local Government and Communities Committee took evidence on the instrument from:

• Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, Scottish Government.

During the evidence session with the Minister on the instrument, the following points were raised:

• The reasons behind the request to add VisitScotland to schedule 3 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to bring VisitScotland's portfolio of land and buildings into asset transfer legislation;

• How communities make a request to add a public body to schedule 3 of the Act;

• The progress which local authorities are making to deal with asset transfer requests.

The Minister answered some of these points and undertook to write back to the Committee with more information on asset transfers.

Following the evidence session on the instrument, Kevin Stewart moved motion S5M-15748—

That the Local Government and Communities Committee recommends that the Asset Transfer Request (Designation of Relevant Authority) (Scotland) Order 2019 [draft] be approved.

Following a short debate on the instrument, the motion was agreed to without division.