Chamber and committees

It is guidance on the various options for how voting procedures should be carried out when dealing with factors.

I appreciate the petitioner’s comments and his experience, but it is quite rare that this has happened with factors. However, we need to ensure that a process is in place for anybody who wants to remove a factor. Usually, that is in the title deeds, so it would be unusual if that was not in place.

Moving forward, if someone feels intimidated because they have to get legal advice or go through the court process, I think that they should feel supported through our guidance. My officials might want to come in with something further here.

The Scottish Government welcomes the CMA’s report and is grateful for its engagement with officials and the Scottish market in its investigation. It is a substantial report. Ministers and officials are considering the recommendations and will respond fully in due course. The suite of recommendations extends over a few ministerial portfolios and the impact of each recommendation needs to be considered in the wider context.

I understand that the Minister for Housing considers that it would be useful, while examining the findings and the recommendations of the CMA, to add more voices to the discussion, and he might include them in the proposed round-table session with property factors. It is under consideration.

That has not been made clear to me, but, as I said, the Minister for Housing is looking into it. We can perhaps write to the committee on that.

I am not aware of that number; I do not know whether any of my officials have it. We might have to write back to the committee with those details.

Yes, absolutely. One of the things that I can do, which I take away from this evidence session, is to speak with the Minister for Housing, because if he is going to have a round-table session to examine the recommendations from the CMA report, that consideration could be intertwined with that.

I will pass over to Jill Clark, who has been involved in the design of it.

I am grateful to Rachael Hamilton for securing the debate and giving me an opportunity to respond.

Rural crime, such as the kind that has been outlined by members and by the member in her motion, is a serious issue. It can have hugely detrimental effects on communities, businesses and individuals. Our farms are the lifeblood of our communities. Those businesses, some of which have existed for hundreds of years, should not have to put up with that kind of crime, which is almost exclusively perpetrated by organised crime groups seeking high-value items that can be resold to fund other activities.

We have rightly spent some time discussing the theft of farm machinery, and I would like to spend a few moments talking about the work that the Scottish Government and our partners are doing, but I will address some of the points made by members before I get into that.

Rachael Hamilton and Rhoda Grant raised the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, so it might be helpful to give members a bit of insight into where the Scottish Government is on that. It was a private member’s bill that received Government and cross-party support down south. It was given royal assent on 20 July 2023 and it commenced in January 2024. It prohibits the sale of prescribed equipment without an immobiliser or a unique identifier.

Perhaps because it was a private member’s bill, Scottish Government officials were not aware of it until we were approached by Police Scotland in late May 2023, when we found that there was insufficient time to fully consider the implications of the bill for Scotland, given where it was in its passage through Westminster. There are no immediate plans to replicate the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 in Scotland, although the Scottish Government is awaiting further information on the impact of the act in England and Wales, as that could influence future decisions.

Rachael Hamilton mentioned in her motion several initiatives that are working well and I am always happy to meet the member and stakeholders to discuss how we can improve things with respect to rural crime.

There are seven areas—I have them written down. Fly-tipping is one of the priorities of that strategy.

SPARC and the local partnerships also demonstrate crime prevention measures in relation to the marking, tracking and securing of farm machinery and tools, including in the most highly impacted areas. I fully appreciate that such theft is a significant concern to our rural communities and that it can have serious consequences for the agricultural sector in terms of cost and confidence. However, there have been some positive strides forward in relation to both the number of crimes reported and the associated cost of this crime on rural communities.

Police Scotland’s recent update on the work of SPARC highlights that in January 2025, a total of 69 rural crime incidents were reported, which is a decrease—albeit a small one—in the number of reported incidents across Scotland, with nine fewer reported crimes and offence incidents compared with the same period last year, when there were 78 crimes.

Where we see a clear difference in relation to the reduction in rural crime is in its total cost. In January 2025, that cost totalled £188,250, with a total of £44,400 having been recovered. That is a decrease in the monetary value of rural crime compared to the same period last year. In January 2024, the total reported rural crime figure was £221,675, but the recovered total at that point was only £16,500. Therefore, I hope that members can see that there has been a small but positive step in the past year.

The method of working with the SPARC model has proven so successful that Police Scotland is using it as the template for the Scottish partnership against acquisitive crime—known as SPAACE—which was created around 18 months ago to bring a partnership approach to preventing a number of forms of theft and fraud. It is at the forefront of efforts to tackle retail crime, which members have heard me talk about in the chamber previously.

On our support for Police Scotland more broadly, in 2025-26, the Scottish Government will increase police funding to £1.62 billion to support police capacity and capability. We are also providing almost £57 million in additional resource funding, which is an increase of 4 per cent compared with the 2024-25 published budget. That will support front-line service delivery and allow Police Scotland to make progress in key areas of transformation as outlined in its three-year business plan, which includes a strong commitment to delivering the best service for communities around Scotland, including those in rural areas.

I have made clear to members the sometimes devastating impact that rural crime can have on our farming and rural communities. I hope that the information that I have provided today gives members some assurance that the Scottish Government will not be complacent. We will continue to work with Police Scotland and other SPARC partners to develop and implement strategies to combat those perpetrating such crimes.

I am not aware specifically of what the cabinet secretary has commented on, but I am happy to raise the issue with her. I am sure that she will be happy to send a letter to the UK Government, if that would be worth while.

Christine Grahame mentioned Police Scotland’s differentiating urban and rural crime in its data categories. That is a very valid point. Christine Grahame will know that that is an operational matter for Police Scotland, but I am happy to raise the matter to see whether Police Scotland has any concerns or is progressing any work in that area.