Seòmar agus comataidhean

I have agreed with the Scottish Law Commission its Eleventh Programme of Law Reform, which covers the work to be undertaken by the Commission for the five year period from 2023 until the end of 2027. The Programme was presented to Parliament today and is also being published today. The Programme is also available online from the Scottish Law Commission website.

The projects which will be undertaken under the Eleventh Programme have been selected following consultation by the Commission. The Programme includes existing projects which began under the Tenth Programme, including work on homicide, damages for personal injury, heritable securities, aspects of family law, and aspects of leases. The Commission is undertaking work on tenement law: compulsory owners’ associations which was a reference from the Scottish Ministers. A joint project with the Law Commission for England and Wales on surrogacy also continues. In addition, the Commission expects to undertake new projects on execution of documents, limitation, executry law, and consolidation work on nature conservation legislation.

I welcome this Programme, which represents a varied and relevant set of proposals, and look forward to receiving reports from the Commission in due course. We continue to work with the Commission over ways of taking forward the proposals in these reports, and note the introduction of a number of bills taking forward proposals from the Commission.

The Scottish Law Commission has a general remit to keep the law of Scotland under review for the purpose of promoting reform and development of the law. In addition to the Programme of Law Reform agreed with Ministers, the Commission also receives from Ministers references on specific issues and provides other advice on specific areas of the law.