Chamber and committees

The result of the division is: For 3, Against 4, Abstentions 0.

Amendment 324 disagreed to.

Amendment 325 moved—[Rhoda Grant].

The question is, that amendment 325 be agreed to. Are we agreed?

Members: No.

I am always going to agree with you, Mr Ruskell. I was trying to make the point that, if what was being asked for was a fairly light-touch plan—for example, if, for an agricultural estate, the long-term objective was to continue agricultural and food production in line with Government guidelines—I personally might be able to sign up to that, and many farmers could. The problem is that if you start to get into more intricate details about how many hooves you have on the ground, I am not sure that I would have any indication at this stage of where I could be in five years, because I do not know what ground will be available for those hooves or what ground the Government would like me to use for other practices apart from feeding the nation.

Monica, you wanted to intervene, too. I am very happy to take the intervention—unless you want to say something separate to Mr Eagle.

The second item is stage 2 consideration of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill. I welcome non-committee members to the meeting. This is our second stage 2 meeting; I remind people that the stage 2 deadline is 27 June. As ever, it is very hard to predict where we will get to today, but, given last week’s progress, I am not proposing to go past section 6. That means that we will not go past the group on offers to buy and compensation and that we will not dispose of any amendments after those to section 6.

To recap, our main working documents are the bill, the marshalled list and the groupings of amendments. For anyone who is observing, I note that those are available on the Scottish Parliament’s bill web page. I will call each amendment individually in the order of the marshalled list. The member who lodged the amendment should either move it or say, “Not moved”, when it is called. If that member does not move the amendment, any other member present may do so.

The groupings of amendments set out the amendments in the order in which they will be debated. There will be one debate on each group of amendments, and the member who lodged the first amendment in the group will be called to speak and move that amendment, and to speak to any other amendments in the group. I will then call other members with amendments in that group to speak to but not move them, and to speak to any other amendments in that group. I will then call any other members who wish to speak in the debate. If you want to speak, either just catch my eye or let the clerks know. After that, I will call the cabinet secretary, if she has not already spoken. Finally, I will call the member who moved the first amendment in the group to wind up and press or withdraw the amendment. If the member wishes to withdraw the amendment after it has been moved, I will ask whether any member present objects. If there is an objection, I will put a question on the amendment.

Later amendments in the group are not debated again when they are reached in the marshalled list. If they are moved, I will put the question on them straight away, and only committee members may vote. Voting will be by a show of hands. Please keep your hands raised for as long as is required so that the clerks can see them and acknowledge your vote. I will also put a question on each section and schedule in the bill as we reach them. I hope that that was helpful—that was quite a canter through.

Before we start, I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests. To repeat what I have said previously, I have an interest in a family farming partnership in Moray. Specifically, I declare an interest as an owner of around 500 acres, or 202 hectares, of farmland, of which 50 acres—about 20 hectares—is woodland. I also declare that I am a tenant of around 500 acres, or 202 hectares, in Moray under a non-agricultural tenancy, and that I have another farming tenancy under the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991. I also declare that I occasionally take on grass lets annually, should I need to.

I hope that that is all clear. I will now get this wee marshalled list bible out in front of me to help me to go through the session.

Section 1—Community-engagement obligations in relation to large land holding

We will move to the next section.

The question is, that amendment 111 be agreed to. Are we agreed?

Members: No.

Hold on. Let us try to keep this in sequence. I accepted an intervention from Mr Ruskell. That does not mean that you can intervene on Mr Ruskell’s intervention on me, Mr Eagle.

Mr Ruskell, if you could finish, I will then allow Monica Lennon’s intervention on me.

The question is, that amendment 326 be agreed to. Are we agreed?

Members: No.

The question is, that amendment 328 be agreed to. Are we agreed?

Members: No.

The result of the division is: For 5, Against 2, Abstentions 0.

Amendment 328 agreed to.

Amendment 329 not moved.

Amendment 395 moved—[Mark Ruskell].