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I would be grateful if the relevant cabinet secretary could follow up with me directly and with the committee to make it clear how that work will be taken forward and who in Government will be leading on it.

Thank you, convener, and good morning—just—to colleagues and to the cabinet secretary and her team.

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to my amendments 471 and 504 on compulsory sale orders. I have lodged the amendments primarily as probing amendments, but I do so in the context of hearing, through the stage 1 evidence when I was on the committee and since leaving the committee about a year ago, about the compelling case for urban land reform. As the constituency MSP for the most densely populated urban part of Scotland, the need for action is clear to me in my day-to-day work.

I note the discussion on urban land reform during stage 2—for example, in relation to the deputy convener’s amendment 42, which was discussed previously. The issue of the use of land is just as important and pertinent in urban Scotland as it is in rural Scotland. Indeed, particularly in this capital city, the housing crisis is very much affected by the value of land, and we need to take measures to change that.

A number of mechanisms are involved in using land well and making the most of it, particularly land that is vacant and derelict in places where people need homes. There are compulsory purchase orders; the Government is reviewing those at present. There is community right to buy, which is also being reviewed. There are taxation measures, some of which have already been instigated by the Scottish Government, and others that we have discussed today; those are always an area of consideration. There is incentivisation through investment, and the Scottish Government’s vacant and derelict land investment programme, which I support, has made a positive impact in that regard.

However, there are times when we want to release land and for it not to go into community or public sector ownership; we want to release it so that it is used as soon as possible by other parties that want to build on it, invest in it and make the most of it.

In my constituency of Edinburgh Northern and Leith, there are large areas of land that could and should have been used for housing development in years and decades past. I think, too, of the pertinent example of the Ayr station hotel, which sat empty, vacant and derelict for a long time. As far as I am aware, the owner did not respond to correspondence, let alone invest in the property. Unfortunately, the building was vandalised and set on fire. It then became a public liability, as it affected the nearby railway station, which resulted in significant public cost.

It should be possible to deal with situations like that of the Ayr station hotel and with the land in my constituency that I mentioned. A compulsory sale order is an important tool that should be available in that regard.

On page 40 of its 2021 manifesto, my party stated:

“We will ... introduce ... compulsory sale orders.”

The Scottish Land Commission looked at the issue in detail in its 2018 paper. During the committee’s stage 1 evidence, Dr Wight spoke in favour of compulsory sale orders on 4 February; Andy Wightman, Peter Peacock and Laurie Macfarlane spoke in favour of them on 3 December 2024; and Linda Gillespie did so on 5 November 2024. There is strong agreement on and cross-party support for compulsory sale orders among a number of MSPs who have raised the issue in the Parliament in recent years.

I thank the cabinet secretary for the engagement on compulsory sale orders that I have had with her and her officials in advance of stage 2. I know that she will speak to my amendment shortly.

I note, too, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice’s response to amendment 515 to the Housing (Scotland) Bill, in which she confirmed that the Scottish Government intends to

“consult on compulsory sale or lease orders before the end of this parliamentary session.”—[Official Report, Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, 29 May 2025; c 28.]

I welcome that and would be grateful if the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands would firmly commit to that action and to the deadline of the end of this parliamentary session.

These are complex areas of law, and if we are going to bring in compulsory sale orders, we will want to ensure that we do that well and that they are effective. Therefore, I understand if time needs to be taken on this. However, we need to move on it, because we need CSOs in the toolkit, and I urge the Scottish Government to consider how they can be introduced as soon as is practicably possible. More broadly, I am sure that, if the Scottish Government were able to consider further the issue of urban land reform ahead of stage 3 of the bill, a number of other MSPs and I would be interested in engaging constructively with the cabinet secretary on such matters.

Will the consultation on compulsory purchase orders be separate to the consultation on compulsory sale orders? Is that correct?

I wonder whether you can build on that response by saying what engagement the Government has had with the courts on those points between stages 1 and 2.

Yes, please.

—and people who go into prison without a history of addiction but who are influenced by the environment.

Thank you.

I guess that the challenge is moving from generally to always.

Of course, in most cases, that is applicable to people who have had challenges with addiction before going into prison—