Seòmar agus comataidhean

Okay. You have touched on something that I do not have an answer to.

That is a very good point. I regularly meet Gary Campbell, the Crofting Commission’s chief executive officer, and the commission’s chair, Andrew Thin. We discuss crofting and the commission’s performance, and those two topics—enforcement duties and regulatory application, and processing times—are always high on the agenda.

It has been clear that the commission is increasing its enforcement work. Last year, the commission commenced engagement with 215 crofters and resolved 134 breaches of duty through taking some form of regulatory action. The level of engagement and enforcement is increasing further for the coming year.

Since the summer, the commission has been terminating tenancies at a rate of one per week due to unresolved breaches of duty. That is significant. You can see that the commission is now using its powers of enforcement. As the committee was advised by Gary Campbell and Andrew Thin during their evidence session, the commission is better resourced now than it was a few years ago. It is already taking greater action to enforce annual notice provisions. As Andrew Thin said in his evidence, the commission already has the legislative tools to enforce duties through the crofting census, and, if the census is not returned, the commission will now be taking action. If the census is filled in falsely, that will be fraud and action will be taken. Spot checks will be carried out on those who have returned their census.

For many years, the commission has been supported by the Government’s rural payments and inspections division when proper local knowledge has been required to advise on regulatory applications. More recently, RPID has also been acting on behalf of the commission in connection with duties and enforcement cases. We are using the existing network and local agricultural offices in that way because that is more sustainable. We are seeking to establish a parallel network of local commission offices.

The bill will help further through streamlining the enforcement processes, the family assignation provision and the enforcement provision against subtenants and short lease holders. That will enhance the efficiency and scope of the commission’s enforcement functions.

Gary Campbell gave the committee some quotes about the level of enforcement that the commission is carrying out now, which was not happening in the past. I hope that that gives the crofting community confidence that the commission is using the powers that it currently has through the extra resources that were put in a number of years ago.

I ask Michael Nugent to deal with the anonymity bit.

I am not sure that it is needed, but I will ask Michael Nugent to give his thoughts.

Crofters have the right to assign their croft, but only with the consent of the commission. The legislation sets out the process that must be followed before the commission decides on the application, which includes public advertising and the opportunity for local crofters to object. When a crofter wishes to assign to a family member who might already be resident in the community, our position is that the process is disproportionate. It costs the crofter and the commission time and money, and we want to reduce the burden of crofting regulation where it makes sense to do so. That is one of the things that came out of my trip around the Western Isles, where we talked about family assignations. The resources that will be freed up by the change will then be available for the commission to deploy elsewhere. We talked earlier about reducing the burden on the commission so that it will be able to carry out more enforcement duties, for instance.

We settled on a limit of three crofts because that felt like it struck the right balance between the policy intention, which is to improve the efficiency of the service that is provided to customers, and concerns that there could be croft collecting or land banking by certain individuals.

The main reason for not going with a hectarage threshold is that we are including any interest that the crofter has in deemed crofts, which do not have a set hectarage. It is normal and accepted for some crofters to run their business on multiple crofts, and we are not opposed to that in any way, shape or form. It is also beneficial to the community if there are opportunities for new entrants to take on a single croft. All that we are saying is that, if someone has three crofts or more, their application will be subject to the current process. The local community will be given the opportunity to comment and the commission will give it reasonable consideration.

No one crofting area will be disadvantaged by the three-croft rule. We want to make family assignation as easy as possible, but, if someone has three crofts or more, it is worth having another look at that to make sure that there is fairness in the community.

The commission cannot really enforce duties on deemed crofts. The immediate concern for enforcing duties on inby crofts is that—

Absolutely. I am very conscious of the fact that that is a potential area of concern as we go forward. However, it is also a massive opportunity when we consider the sheer scale of crofting land that has the potential to help us with our environmental desires and what we are trying to do as a country.

We will definitely take a very close look at the issue. However, until we have clarity about the legal ownership, we will just have to keep an eye on it.

We recognise the importance of the landlord’s voice, and the bill continues to recognise that as well. However, there are normally only three appointed commissioners, and those appointments come round only every few years. Other skill sets might be even more important. We must retain the flexibility to make the best appointment. The bill will provide that Scottish ministers must consult the commission and have regard to the desirability and value of appointing a commissioner who can represent landlords’ interests.

The Crofting Commission—it is not the Crofters Commission any more—must consider all the regulatory applications in the drafting of its policy plan. The board has a responsibility to consider all relevant parties, including the landlords.

My understanding is that it was supposed to make technical fixes.

As you know, we have a programme for government commitment to make sure that every public owner of land, which includes the Scottish Government and anyone who has crofting land, to look at the opportunities to get new entrants in. As you well know, I am passionate about making sure that we get a vibrant new generation of young folk coming into crofting and farming. We are taking the steps to make that happen and we are starting to see the results.