Chamber and committees

That is a fair point; there are additional barriers, particularly because of the checks and balances I referred to. Those extra steps are there to address the need for balance. If the committee hears evidence that the balance is not quite right, I would be keen to get that information. It is important that we have those protections, for both communities and landowners. I feel that the balance is currently correct and that we have the right steps in place, but I would be more than happy to consider any other information.

There is an awful lot going on at the moment in relation to decarbonisation; the carbon neutral islands project is a key part of that. In January this year we published an update on where we were in the project, which has obviously moved on since then.

We are working across six islands. The carbon audits have been undertaken and the climate change action plans were published at the start of the summer this year. The next stage in the process is in relation to investment strategies and how we build on the actions that are set out in the reports. I would be happy to keep the committee updated on that work because, of course, it will feed into other parts of Government.

As I said, the islands will be at the forefront in facing the impacts of climate change, but I also think that they hold a lot of the solutions to climate change. There will, within that process, be critical learning that can be shared.

However, when I look to the other parts of my portfolio, those will also have an impact on islands—how they adapt to climate change and how we can help them to adapt to climate change. We were talking about peatlands; change might also happen in relation to forestry and agriculture reform, on which, as you know, we will introduce a bill. All those things will have an impact, so we must ensure that we are, as ever, working with our islands to identify solutions as we look to implement changes.

It is important to remember that so much has changed and so much has happened since “The National Islands Plan” was published. We are reviewing the plan at the moment. There are a number of consultation events in that review to ensure that the 13 strategic objectives that we set out are still relevant, and to find out whether there are other areas that we need to look at or focus more on. That review will be crucial in identifying other areas to consider.

I think that CES has an important role in a number of ways. Indeed, for all our agencies—for Crown Estate Scotland, in particular—there are opportunities to lead by example. I know that CES has its own climate change action plan for the Crown estate, and that it is part of the environment and economy leaders group, which includes the chief executives of all the main public bodies as well as their sponsoring divisions in the Scottish Government. The group ensures that there is collaboration across the piece on climate change and adaptations, and that those agencies feed into the broader policy objectives. It is critical that CES is part of that work; it does feed directly into it.

As for its future work, CES is commissioning work on adaptation and what that might look like for the estate, and it is also looking at forestry, peatland and what it can do with its assets. I see it as being a critical part of the work that we are taking forward on climate change.

Again, there is a lot to unpick in the elements of that question.

Having done a separate aquaculture session, I can say that a lot of work is going on on it, at the moment. To address it in particular, I note that we published our “Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture” over the summer. The committee will see that, as part of that, we included enhanced emphasis on climate and the environment as well as on community benefit. We want to ensure that we see more benefit going to communities across Scotland who host aquaculture.

There are also a number of key commitments in relation to, for example, going beyond the regulatory limits when it comes to waste discharge and how we can collect that waste and use it better as part of our circular economy. There are a number of new commitments.

It is also important, as well as considering regulation, to recognise the innovation in technology that is going on in the aquaculture sector to address some of the key challenges that it faces. I do not necessarily agree that there is not enough regulation, but there are a number of bodies involved in regulation of aquaculture and we know that we need to make improvements in that regard. That is where the work that we are taking forward from the Griggs review is really important.

We have the Scottish aquaculture council. A key thread of its work at the moment is in relation to consenting; we have a consenting task force. It is not about there being less regulation, but about there being more efficient and transparent regulation of the industry and how we make that work more effectively with all the key bodies. We hope to introduce a pilot very soon so that we can see what improvements can be made to the system. A body of work is being done.

Crown Estate Scotland also has a key role to play in relation to biodiversity. I talked about how it is part of the environment and economy leadership group in relation to climate change. It is also part of the Scottish biodiversity programme, which is about engaging with stakeholders on the biodiversity strategy. It is starting to embed that in the work that it is doing with its farming tenants, which we are seeing. CES has an environmental grants scheme that is for getting rid of invasive non-native species and doing all sorts of other things in relation to biodiversity. There is always more that can be done, but it is doing a lot of work in that space, which will continue as we look forward to the biodiversity strategy and delivery plan.

We obviously want to see diversity and to ensure community ownership—whether of land, buildings or other assets—in every part of Scotland. The 2021 report on community ownership in Scotland highlighted that the greatest increases in community ownership were in the Highlands and in Argyll and Bute. You rightly identified Falkirk as an area where there is no community ownership of assets. We need to tease that out and get to the bottom of what the issues might be.

It is also important to remember that a number of things must align to enable community ownership. The relevant community bodies have to be in place and there must be the right motivations, along with the right piece of land or the right asset. It may be that all those pieces have not quite aligned, but we need to tease out what the barriers might be and look at how we can address those. What matters is how those projects come together and the overall motivation and alignment.

It is also important to highlight that information about any decisions that are made is publicly available on the Registers of Scotland website for anyone who wants to see why some community ownership plans do not go ahead.

Yes, that is right. Land reform and taking forward the future land reform bill fall within my portfolio. Obviously, there are cross-cutting interests between the different portfolios, but land reform falls to me.

It is important to remember that land reform is a journey. You are absolutely right that it is 20 years since that policy was commenced. However, we are intent on taking that further, which is why we will be introducing another land reform bill, as we previously committed to do. We want to see more diversity of land ownership in Scotland and more community ownership.

Something that came out of one of the previous reports from the Scottish Land Commission was that, at the moment, the right to buy for communities in Scotland is seen as a means to an end when it should be something that is considered normal. It is something that we should be proactively encouraging communities to do and that communities should proactively be looking at.

As ever, there is always more work to do, but I think that the land reform bill that we will be introducing will take us a step further on that journey.

The review of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 will potentially flesh out some of that as well. I am sure that we all have examples from our constituencies or regions of where the community asset transfer process has not quite worked out for a variety of different reasons. It is important that that review is undertaken, so that we can see how the process is working on the whole and whether there are any lessons to be learned.