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Scottish Land Commission 2023

Introduction

The Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee has a role in reviewing appointments to the Scottish Land Commission.

What is the Scottish Land Commission?

The Scottish Land Commission was established under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 with a wide range of powers on matters relating to land use in Scotland.

The Commission also advises the Scottish Government with land reform policy and legislation.

The Commission is made up of 6 members.  5 Land Commissioners, including a Chair, and a Tenant Farming Commissioner.

Members stay on the Scottish Land Commission for up to 5 years.

Find out more about the current membership of the Scottish Land Commission 

Appointments to the Scottish Land Commission – Role of Net Zero Energy and Transport Committee

The Scottish Government makes the appointments to the Scottish Land Commission.

However, appointees must also be formally approved by the Scottish Parliament.

Proposed appointments are normally referred to the relevant Parliamentary Committee, in this case the Net Zero Energy and Transport Committee, to enable them to make a recommendation to Parliament about the proposal.

The Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee was referred three new appointments that the Scottish Government proposed to make to the Scottish Land Commission:

• Michael Russell (Chair)
• Craig MacKenzie (Land Commissioner)
• Deborah Roberts (Land Commissioner)

Consideration of current nominees

The Committee first considered the current round of appointments to the Scottish Land Commission at its meeting on 13 June 2023. It agreed to seek further information from the Scottish Government on its plans for future appointments and to consider this at a future meeting.

On 5 September, the Committee considered its approach to scrutiny of appointments to the Scottish Land Commission following correspondence from the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands.

This correspondence set out further details of the selection process and person specification.

The Committee agreed to:

• Receive information on the proposed candidates from the Scottish Government;
• Consider and come to a view on whether the process followed and the proposed appointments are satisfactory; and
• Make this view known to Parliament prior to a Chamber motion on the approval of candidates

On 12 December, the Committee considered the three proposed appointments to the Scottish Land Commission.

The Committee agreed to recommend that the Scottish Parliament approve the three candidates.

The proposal was agreed to by division:

For 4 (Bob Doris, Jackie Dunbar, Ben Macpherson, Mark Ruskell),

Against 3 (Monica Lennon, Douglas Lumsden, Edward Mountain),

Abstentions 0.

Report

Read the Committee's report (published 19 December 2023)