Seòmar agus comataidhean

I am not sure whether the Government did or did not get away with anything, but I will stick to the bill that we are scrutinising.

In relation to land management plans, the bill places consultation responsibilities on land that exceeds 3,000 hectares, although a case has been made for that limit to be set at 1,000 hectares. Might one of the ways to soften the prior notification element be to say that landowners should be discussing with communities the community right to buy framework as part of that consultation process? Hopefully, if that is part of the land management plan, communities would be empowered and would register an interest anyway, irrespective of whether the land was coming up for sale. Might people be looking at the issue from the wrong end of the telescope?

Don Macleod, do you have any views on that?

I am sorry, but that is what I wanted to get to—that is really helpful evidence for the committee.

Mr Colquhoun, do you want to answer?

That is very helpful; we will come on to more about that in a second.

I apologise in advance to witnesses for moving them on, because there are a lot of questions to get through. I am trying to get an indication of where witnesses are, and then move on to the next question. The speed of my interactions perhaps came across as a bit rude—I apologise for that, but I am trying to get through the questions.

There is no point in having land management plans unless there is a system of compliance. We can talk a bit more in a moment about what that means in practice. For now, let us assume that there has been non-compliance—I know that it is a big assumption, Mr Macleod, but let us play that game for a wee second. The maximum fine is capped at £5,000. Do the witnesses feel that that amount is about right? Again, I do not have a background in this area, but it feels pretty low to me.

We will come to cross-compliance and penalties in a second, but in relation to direct penalties, is £5,000 too low, too high or about right? Perhaps Gail Watt can start this time.

I agree with all that, but you have not taken a view on the level of the fine. Do you think that the level of fine in the bill would act as an adequate deterrent?

Okay. So you would not have a view on whether, if someone was managing 3,000 hectares, a £5,000 fine in that respect would be affordable to them.

Okay. Does Fergus Colquhoun want to come in on that?

Would you like to see more in the bill in relation to that?

That would be really helpful. What does Dr Robbie think?

Okay.