Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: equality impact assessment

Key Findings

Overall, the EQIA process suggested that the proposals are anticipated to have an overall positive impact, and this is not expected to differ significantly for different equality groups.

There are data gaps in relation to the agricultural sector and to resolve this there is a long-term project to map all current stats on equalities within the sector to inform impact assessments; creating database of currently collected equalities data for the agricultural sector; and providing recommendations for any further research and for mainstreaming equalities data collection in future policy interventions for Agricultural Reform Programme reporting.

A high level summary for the public sector quality duty questions are provided below.

• Eliminating unlawful discrimination: A positive impact is anticipated in relation to marriage and civil partnership. The Bill makes provision for a small landholding to be able to bequeath or assign their interest in the landholding, and for succession in an intestacy. It also provides for assignation of the interest. This has the potential to make it easier for small landholders to pass on their tenancy to a spouse or civil partner potentially having a positive impact on people because of their marriage or civil partnership. No other differential impacts are anticipated in relation to this public section quality duty for the other protected characteristics.
• Advancing equality of opportunity: A positive impact is anticipated in relation to age, and sex. This is through communities being better engaged on plans for large landholdings near them, and through wider opportunities to own land which may then be used for community benefit. In particular, older people are highly represented in community bodies and so are likely to benefit from the additional opportunities provided to community bodies. Women and younger people make up a larger proportion of new entrants to farming, meaning that they may be more likely to benefit from better opportunities to acquire land or tenancies.
• The potential for greater engagement and opportunities to acquire land for community bodies, may lead to improved community services, and so benefits for the whole community.
• Promoting good relations among and between different groups: A positive impact is anticipated in relation to age and sex. This is due to the community engagement requirements, additional opportunities for community bodies to acquire land which may meet local needs and the role of the Tenant Farming Commissioner in promoting and encouraging good relations between landlords and tenants.

It was noted in response to the land reform consultation that people who are already marginalised on the basis of one or more protected characteristic are more likely to be economically disadvantaged. As more fully explored in the Fairer Scotland Duty Impact Assessment, it is expected that this Bill will have a positive impact in allowing a wider range of people opportunities to own or rent land.

The Scottish Government has considered the effect of the provisions of the Bill on Human Rights in particular the following Articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”), Article 6 (right to a fair hearing), and Article 1 Protocol 1 (“A1P1”) ECHR in relation to the impact of policies on an individual’s property rights. It is considered that appropriate appeal rights and sufficient safeguards are provided within the provisions to ensure that these are a proportionate interference with an individual’s rights. For further detail, please see the Policy Memorandum for this Bill.

As the detail of community engagement requirements will be set out in regulations, further equality impact assessment will be required to support these.