Question reference: S5W-24358
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 16 July 2019 Registered interest
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Current status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 6 August 2019
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has taken to support the work of the Scottish Land Commission since September 2018.
Answer
The Scottish Land Commission is key to the Scottish Government’s long-term programme of land reform.
Scottish Government officials meet with Land Commission staff regularly on a range of policy issues and to provide sponsorship support. The Scottish Government works closely with the Land Commission to ensure delivery of its Strategic Plan, which reflects Scottish Government priorities for land reform, as set out in the Programmes for Government (2017 – 2018 and 2018 – 2019).
Since September 2018 the Land Commission has published two major reports which made a number of recommendations to Scottish Ministers. In November 2018 it published a review of community ownership mechanisms, including Community Right to Buy legislation. We are now working with the Land Commission to implement the recommendations, and have established a multi-agency group to provide strategic oversight of this process. Officials are also working closely with the Land Commission and other stakeholders to develop detailed options to progress its recommendations on scale and concentration of land ownership in rural Scotland, which were published in March 2019. These recommendations were supported by the Scottish Parliament in a motion agreed by the Scottish Parliament following a land reform debate on 21 March.
The Land Commission has developed a protocol to support the Scottish Government’s Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement and Guidance on Engaging Communities in Decisions Relating to Land, and is promoting this throughout Scotland. The Scottish Government has endorsed this work, as well as the Land Commission’s work in advising land owners on how to follow the principles set out in the Statement.
The Scottish Government provides ongoing sponsorship support to the Land Commission. This includes supporting it to be an accountable, high-performing organisation with effective governance structures that delivers its objectives in line with Ministerial priorities. For 2018-19 the grant-in-aid provided to the Commission was £1.4 million and for 2019-20 this increased to £1.5 million.
The Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform meets formally with the Land Commission twice a year.