Chamber and committees

Before we come to Bob Doris’s questions, I think that Mark Ruskell wanted to come in.

I would like to go back to the matter of thresholds, if I may. I have been waiting very patiently, as convener—

I am just pondering whether anonymity would open the gate for anyone to make a vexatious claim without having to put their name to it. There are always checks and balances.

The deputy convener wants to come in with questions.

I am smiling only because I know of a huge number of community councils across the Highlands that do not have enough members to be actually working, and have gone into abeyance.

Back to you, Michael.

Now I can see only two witnesses on my screen. Oh, there we go. I cannot see whether Jon Hollingdale is looking away or at the camera. Linda Gillespie, were you going to kick off?

We do need to get back to the original questions on criteria and thresholds. I will let you ask this question, Bob, and then I will bring in the deputy convener.

Thank you, Michael.

Mark, will you ask your first set of questions? I will then come in with a question before you move on to your second set.

We have actually stretched this evidence session longer than I had anticipated, so I briefly suspend the meeting for five minutes to allow for a comfort break.

I know, and I am going to blow the whole thing by asking a supplementary question.

I understand what you have just said, Josh, but interfering in the open market value by dictating who can buy something will depress the value of the land, will it not? Will it also not give rise to claims? I have been doing lotting for years, and it is a bit of a black art; you have to take into account what the market needs and what local individuals want and then try to strike a balance between the two. It can work very well, as we heard when we were on the Buccleuch estates, if you know what communities and individuals want. However, you seem to be suggesting that that is not the best way of doing this—or have I got that wrong?

You have just mentioned the one thing that always terrifies me, as a parliamentarian. You have said that, instead of dealing with the issue in primary legislation, we should just come up with some figures and then some guidance afterwards. As a parliamentarian, I am meant to pass legislation that I understand, but I cannot understand stuff that is not in the bill. That means that I have to leave it to someone else to do that at a later date—and that person might not be as reasonable as you are, Josh.