Question reference: S6W-23787
- Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 11 December 2023
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Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 12 December 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its proposed Land Reform Bill.
Answer
The Scottish Government remains committed to introducing Land Reform legislation to further improve transparency of land ownership, help ensure large scale land holdings deliver in the public interest, and empower communities by providing more opportunities to own land and have more say in how land in their area is used.
It is important that the proposals in the Bill are robust to address the problems identified and to ensure this we are giving further consideration to measures in the Bill. Land reform is complex, and we are taking time to ensure that we have fully considered all responses to the consultation and subsequent comments from stakeholders.
To allow time for this further consideration and ensure we get the proposals right for introduction, we are planning a slight delay to the introduction of the Bill but it remains a Programme for Government commitment for 2023-24.
The Scottish Government also remains fully committed to ensuring that tenant farmers and small landholders are given equality of opportunity to access the new agricultural support framework. We will ensure that the future four tier agricultural support framework is able to work for all types of land tenure.