Crofting consultation 2017

About

Responding to the consultation

We are inviting responses to this consultation by 20 November 2017. Please respond to this consultation online at: http://consult.scotland.gov.uk/agriculture-and-rural-communities/crofting-consultation-2017

You can save and return to your responses while the consultation is still open. Please ensure that consultation responses are submitted before the closing date.

If you are unable to respond online, please complete the Respondent Information

Form (see 'Handling your Response' below) and send it with your written response to:

The Scottish Government
Crofting Bill Team
D Spur
Saughton House
Broomhouse Drive
Edinburgh
EH11 3XG

Handling your response

If you respond using Citizen Space, you will be automatically directed to the Respondent Information Form at the start of the questionnaire. This will let us know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public.

If you are unable to respond via Citizen Space, please complete and return the Respondent Information Form attached to the end of this document as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential and will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the said Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

After the consultation has closed, we will analyse the responses received and these will inform the decision making process for how the crofting Bill will operate. Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, we will publish these responses and, thereafter, publish a report of the analysis of the consultation responses.

If you have any questions please contact: croftingconsultation@gov.scot

Aim of this consultation

This consultation is split into three sections.

The sections will ask the respondent a number of questions on matters relating to the type of legislation that may be brought forward and priorities for crofting legislation. The questions are designed to give the Scottish Government an indication of the change that is wanted.

Section 1 explains the background of crofting, why this consultation exists and the current Scottish Government policy position on crofting as a whole. The aim is to find out what respondents think of current Scottish Government crofting policy.

Section 2 sets out the different types of legislation that the Scottish Government can take forward for crofting within this Parliamentary session. By showing what options are available, the aim is for respondents to consider what is needed from legislation in order to make the changes they wish to see for the future of crofting.

Section 3 presents a number of issues for crofting that might be addressed as part of legislative reform. These have been identified from several sources, including the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee's 2017 report ' Review of Priorities for Crofting Law Reform ' ^[1] , the Crofting Law Sump ^[2] , 'The Final Report of the Committee of Enquiry into Crofting' (the Shucksmith Report) ^[3] and the early engagement work carried out by the Scottish Government across the crofting areas.

The aim is for respondents to focus on what changes to crofting legislation are required to make crofting fit for the 21st century. Some changes that may be identified might be better pursued through non-legislative means (for example, the altering of crofting policy). Others may require to be looked at in terms of wider agricultural policy and regulations, or even wider Scottish Government policy areas.

In recognition of the complex nature of crofting legislation and the way that matters are entwined, it is not considered practical to set out in this consultation all of the topics of discussion that have been raised. Instead, we have set out the general context for the issue concerned and given some broad examples of the issues reported. The questions in section 3 seek views and opinions as to the priorities for crofting legislation.

However, given the importance of wider crofting issues, these have been set out in summary form in Annex A. This provides information on the wider policy context for crofting and discusses the non-legislative work that is being undertaken in partnership with the Crofting Stakeholder Forum. Many of the matters that are discussed in this annex have been raised in relation to crofting law, but in fact may not require changes to crofting law in order to be dealt with. So, whilst important, these issues need to be looked at separately from change to crofting legislation.