Seòmar agus comataidhean

There will be a division.

For

Lumsden, Douglas (North East Scotland) (Con)
Mountain, Edward (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Ruskell, Mark (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)

Against

Doris, Bob (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP)
Lennon, Monica (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Matheson, Michael (Falkirk West) (SNP)
Stewart, Kevin (Aberdeen Central) (SNP)

I do, too, so two of us object. Therefore, we will vote on each amendment in turn.

The question is, that amendment 277 be agreed to. Are we agreed?

Members: No.

The question is, that amendment 278 be agreed to. Are we agreed?

Members: No.

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

Amendment 307 agreed to.

Amendment 308 moved—[Mairi Gougeon].

I now require a bit of concentration from everyone, as I have a long list of amendments.

I call amendments 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 510, 493, 494, 495 and 496, all in the name of the cabinet secretary and all previously debated. I think that I got those right; if I got them wrong, let me know. I invite the cabinet secretary to move all those amendments—I will not repeat them all.

Amendments 185 to 215, 510 and 493 to 496 moved—[Mairi Gougeon].

I am sure that Monica Lennon will respond to the following points when she winds up. To correct Michael Matheson, which I do not do without being careful, the Crown Estate has estates on land as well as at sea. Those estates are spread across Scotland and are not only agricultural. The Crown Estate has other interests as well.

I tend to agree with Monica Lennon that Crown Estate reform was probably overdue when it was carried out. It is a journey that we are only part of the way through, and we are waiting to see its full effects. I have long argued about the issue of which organisation should realistically get the income from ScotWind and whether that should be Crown Estate Scotland or the Scottish Government. The sale of a long-term lease is actually revenue, so a percentage is kept by the Crown Estate and a percentage goes to the Government, and capital has to be reinvested back by the Crown Estate into the estate itself.

I am taken by the fact that, 19 years ago, Bidwells—I declare that I worked there then—managed Crown Estate lands in a part of Scotland. It was interesting due to the complexity of the management of those lands, which was not carried out by the Crown Estate but by surveyors and by several firms around Scotland. That ensured that there was the capacity to manage the land. I strongly question whether local authorities would have the scope to carry out the management of the Crown estate foreshore if that were to be passed over to them.

I also agree with the deputy convener that, when it comes to the management of the Crown estate, it is good that that is done by a central body across Scotland. That means that there is no dubiety and that there are not the huge variations that there could be in, say, how much local authorities charge for even a minor thing such as the mooring of a buoy on the seabed .

I am nervous about the amendments. I can see why they might be attractive, but maybe the cabinet secretary can set all our minds at rest. We come to you now, cabinet secretary.

Group 28 is on new crofts and small landholdings. Amendment 381, in the name of Rhoda Grant, is in a group on its own. Mercedes Villalba will speak to and move amendment 381.

Having read the amendment carefully, I am unclear about how many new crofts or how many small landholdings would have to be created. That creates questions, which would mean that the regulations would constantly be challenged.

I also struggle with whether the amendment takes into account crofting estates and how new crofts would be created without causing problems to the original crofting owners, and whether, on those estates, the areas that might be included would include a share of the common grazings, which would completely skew the use of the common grazings of the remaining crofters.

As far as the Small Landholders (Scotland) Act 1911 is concerned, we have very few small landholders within that act. I can never remember quite how many there are, but I think that the number is around 70 or 80, or maybe fewer—maybe it is in the 60s. I do not know; the cabinet secretary will no doubt explain that. The evidence that we took from the people who are involved in this suggested that, rather than creating more, they would rather move such landholdings into agricultural tenancies, which may be the way forward to protect them and ensure that they survive. However, I will go to the cabinet secretary on those points.

My point was that you have introduced legislation on crofting and that the Crofting Commission will enforce that for crofts that are left unoccupied or are not properly being used, but there is nothing in the legislation regarding smallholdings. Are you content that the situation with crofts will never happen on smallholdings when you are giving them that extra protection?

I now ask Tim Eagle to speak to amendment 218 and any other amendments in the group.