Chamber and committees

I feel convinced that we will cover the matter in more detail later.

The second part of my question is very simple, and as it relates to something that Sarah-Jane Laing touched on, I will come to her last. I will bring in Gemma Cooper first and then work round.

Might any existing policy levers resolve some of the issues that the bill seeks to address? If so, please tell me one of them before I move on to the next person. It will be helpful if each person could give me one policy lever.

I was going to say that some of that drifted beyond the boundaries of the instrument. We move to questions from Monica Lennon.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 34th meeting in 2024 of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee.

Our first item of business is a decision on whether to take in private item 5, which is consideration of the evidence that we will hear on the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill. Are we content to take that item in private?

Members indicated agreement.

The committee will need to report on the outcome of the instrument in due course. I ask the committee to delegate authority to me, as convener, to approve the draft of the report for publication. Are we agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

I thank the cabinet secretary and her officials.

I suspend the meeting briefly to allow for a changeover of witnesses.

Sarah-Jane is obviously struggling a bit to understand your question, Michael. If you give an example of where you think such a requirement would be appropriate, that might help us to move on.

A few questions are lining up. Mark Ruskell will be followed by Kevin Stewart.

The trouble with having a panel of three very knowledgeable people is that everyone wants to ask each of them the same question, but what that means is that we will never get through all the questions if all three of you answer. I am just making that observation.

Before we leave this section and come to the deputy convener’s questions, I note that no one has mentioned the granularity of plans and how that could affect the community. There might be, say, a field on the edge of a village that the community is keen to use to exercise their dogs and take a walk, but it would mean that you could not crop it with vegetables, say, or put it to grazing for young calves all year. I am worried about whether the community feels that it can feed into the farmer’s management operations in that type of situation, and whether it would feel ignored if the farmer did not ensure that some of the field was left for those in the community to walk over. I am also thinking about how that might impact on the farmer’s business, and how a balance might be achieved. How do we strike that kind of balance through community engagement and the land management plan that follows?

Gemma Cooper, I will come to you on that, because it is about farming and you will know the answer.

Absolutely, but can I ask that it be slightly shorter? There was quite a lot of statement in the previous question, if I might be so bold as to say.

Douglas Lumsden wants to ask a question on this issue, and I would like to come in as well before we move on to the next subject.