Tenant Farming Commissioner functions: review

6. Collaboration with the Land Commission

The Tenant Farming Commissioner is expected to collaborate with the Land Commissioners in the exercise of their functions to the extent that those functions relate to agriculture and agricultural holdings. As can be seen in Table 9, 81% of respondents agree or strongly agree that this should be a function of the Tenant Farming Commissioner.

One respondent noted that the Land Commissioners should also have a duty to collaborate with the Tenant Farming Commissioner:

'In addition to the TFC collaborating with the Land Commissioners…it is important when Land Commissioners take actions in their wider functions which may affect agriculture and agricultural holdings in Scotland that the Land Commissioners collaborate with the TFC. This allows specific considerations for tenant farming in Scotland to be fed into the Land Commissioners through the TFC's collaboration with industry stakeholders.'

Dr McIntosh, the current officeholder, notes in his response that the relationship between the Tenant Farming Commissioner and Land Commissioners has been effective. He states:

'There are a number of areas where the interests of the TFC and the Land Commissioners overlap. Since the TFC is a member of the Land Commission, and the staff supporting the TFC are employees of the Land Commission, it has not proved difficult to maintain effective communication and collaboration.'

As shown in Table 10, just 9% of respondents disagree or strongly disagree that the Tenant Farming Commissioner has sufficient powers to collaborate with the Land Commissioners.