Seòmar agus comataidhean

I am sorry, but I am looking at the deputy convener, and I am not going to answer that comment. I have made my point.

Deputy convener, do you have anything more to ask?

You just did. [Laughter.]

Yes, please.

I hear what you are saying, but surely the legislation is written such that the land commissioner sits within the commission, but he or she has special skills. The commissioner is still in the Land Commission; it is just that his powers are not shared out with all the Land Commission, in the same way that the tenant farming commissioner is a member of the Land Commission but his work on tenant farming is his within the commission. I am not sure that I understand what you are saying.

I am keen to ask a question on thresholds before you move on.

I look forward to seeing them and I look forward to seeing whether the Scottish Government agrees with you on the costs, because I am sure that those will have driven some of its proposals in the bill.

Thank you very much. That was quite a long evidence session, but it was extremely worth while.

We turn to questions from Monica Lennon.

I think that that is individual businesses, is it not? Individual businesses might comprise more than one holding.

Thank you, Jon. The next questions are from Monica Lennon. Over to you, Monica.

Our second item of business is an evidence-taking session on the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill. Our focus is on part 1 of the bill, and we have been joined by a panel of community land stakeholders. I am pleased to welcome Dr Josh Doble, policy manager, Community Land Scotland; Jon Hollingdale, policy adviser, Scottish Community Alliance; and Linda Gillespie, head of community ownership, Development Trusts Association Scotland. I also welcome Rhoda Grant, who will be joining us remotely.

As people might have forgotten, I always like to make a declaration at the start of these sessions. It is the same declaration that I have made previously. I declare an interest in a farming partnership in Moray, as set out in my entry in the register of members’ interests. Specifically, I declare an interest as the owner of approximately 500 acres of farmed land, of which 50 acres is woodland. I declare that I am a tenant of approximately 500 acres in Moray under a non-agricultural tenancy and that I have another farm tenancy under the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991. I also declare that I sometimes take on annual grass lets. All the details of my entry in the register of members’ interests can be found online.

We have allocated about 90 minutes for this session. As convener, I get to ask a gentle warm-up question at the beginning. Is part 1 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill the right way to address any perceived problems?