Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government has met with the Land Reform Review Group on seven occasions. These are as follows:

23 August 2012 - Visit and photo opportunity at Neilston Development Trust with the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment and the Land Reform Review Group (Alison Elliott, Sarah Skerratt, Jim Hunter).

2 October 2012 - Meeting to discuss the Group’s work plan between the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, the Minister for Environment and Climate Change and the Land Reform Review Group (Alison Elliott, Sarah Skerratt, Jim Hunter) and Scottish Government officials.

20 November 2012 - Meeting to discuss links between the review and the work on the Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill. Present: Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Local Government and Planning, the Land Reform Review Group (Alison Elliot, Jim Hunter, Sarah Skerratt) and Scottish Government officials.

18 December 2012 – Meeting to discuss details of Review Group’s plans on urban issues to link with Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill. Present: Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Local Government and Planning, the Land Reform Review Group (Alison Elliot, Jim Hunter and via phone, Sarah Skerratt), and Scottish Government officials.

14 March 2013 – Meeting to update on review progress. Present: Paul Wheelhouse (Minister for Environment and Climate Change), Alison Elliot (Chair, Review Group) and Scottish Government officials.

8 May 2013 – Meeting to update on links with Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill, options for ensuring that liaison between review group and Bill team continue, and any options for early legislation through the Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill, that have been identified during phase 1 of the review. Present: Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Local Government and Planning, and the Land Reform Review Group (Alison Elliott, Sarah Skerratt, Ian Cooke) and Scottish Government officials.

13 June 2013 – Update on progress and ideas for phase 2 approach. Present: Minister for Environment and Climate Change, the Land Reform Review Group (Alison Elliot, Ian Cooke, John Watt), and Scottish Government officials.

In addition, Scottish Government officials act as the secretariat for the group and have constant contact with them on operational matters.

The Land Reform Review Group was announced in July 2012, by the First Minister. It was set up by the Scottish Government to develop innovative and radical proposals that will contribute to Scotland’s future success.

Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary Rural Affairs and the Environment, in discussion with Scottish Government officials, appointed the three original members of the review group. These were Dr Alison Elliot (Chair), Professor Jim Hunter (Vice Chair) and Dr Sarah Skerratt (Vice Chair).

The appointment of the group’s 13 advisers also took into account recommendations from the review group chair, Alison Elliot.

Replacements for Professor Hunter and Dr Skerratt, involved discussion between ministers, Scottish Government officials and the review group themselves.

The Scottish Government provide administrative support for the group, as well as paying fees for the review group members. The review group’s advisers do not receive fees, but are paid expenses.

Scottish Ministers commented on the initial work programme and have been consulted and interviewed as part of the process, as have representatives of a wide range of political, community and personal opinion.

The Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill is currently proceeding and any relevant recommendations that the review group can make within the Bill timescale, will be taken forward as part of that Bill. The Bill team and review group are liaising closely to ensure that this happens.

The Scottish Government will look to take any necessary action to legislate on the proposals in the group’s final report, as quickly as possible following the production of the report but we don’t wish to prejudge the outcome of the review group’s work at this time, given that the second phase of its work is in its early stages and in advance of ministers having the opportunity to consider the review group’s findings.

The Weather Aid Scheme opened for applications on 3 June 2013 and detailed notes for guidance are available on the Scottish Government website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/Agriculture/grants/WeatherAidScheme.

The eligibility criteria takes into account the impact of the severe weather on businesses and the type and extent of losses they suffered.

The scheme closes for applications on 5 July 2013 and the Weather Aid Industry Group will set the payment rates once all applications have been assessed. The aim is to make as many payments as possible in early August.

Farmers will be eligible to receive financial aid if they have used a fallen stock collection service during the period 1 March 2013 to 31 May 2013.

The financial aid will be administered by the National Fallen Stock Company (NFSCo). Farmers who are members of NFSCo need to take no action at this stage. Farmers who are not members of NFSCo need to complete an application form providing their name, address and bank details. This form should be submitted to NFSCo along with evidence to show that they have paid for collections made in the relevant period by an operator approved to collect and dispose of fallen stock by 31 July 2013.

Application forms are available to download at http://www.nfsco.co.uk/news.php or by emailing member@nfsco.co.uk or by calling the NFSCo helpline on 08450 548888.

Payments will commence in August 2013 and any subsidy payments to farmers will be calculated according to collections made.

As stated on 28 May 2013, in my speech to the NFUS Conference-A Shared Vision for Land Tenure, I will make an announcement after the summer break indicating how we will carry out the review of agricultural holdings legislation.

The Scottish Government has not consulted on a plastic bag tax. Our safeguarding Scotland’s resources consultation on efficient use of materials included a proposal for regulations requiring retailers to charge at least 5p for all single use carrier bags, regardless of material, and donate the net proceeds to good causes. We intend to publish our proposals soon, together with consultation responses and analysis.

The information requested at point (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.

The recently launched Active Travel campaign aims to encourage the Scottish public to reduce the number of short journeys made by car. The campaign raises awareness of the benefits of walking and cycling in terms of wellbeing, environment and financial cost.

The Scottish Government continually looks for ways to minimise the use of cars for official journeys and Ministers take their responsibility to travel sustainably very seriously and aim to use more sustainable forms of transport whenever possible.

Where practicable, Ministers are encouraged to use public transport or walk to their engagements.

You may be interested to know that all Ministerial journeys by Car and public transport are published on the Scottish Government Website.

Up to the end of April this year, over 140,000 deposits with a total value of £89 million had been lodged with one of the three approved tenancy deposit schemes. Of these, more than 25,000 deposits had been submitted directly by landlords. Information on the number of landlords registered and deposits lodged with the schemes, as at the deadline of 15 May is not yet available.

Comparison with the number of properties private landlords have registered with local authorities suggests that some landlords still need to lodge deposits.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the scheme providers and other stakeholders to encourage compliance with the law in this area.