 The next item of business is a statement by Fergus Ewing on next steps for the Crofting Commission. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of his statement so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Fergus Ewing. Cabinet secretary, ten minutes please. Crofting occupies a unique place in the cultural heritage of Scotland. It's woven into our history, our story of who we are with a powerful and often poignant resonance. We must not allow crofting simply to be a relic of our past. Crofting must have a purpose and a role in our present and our future. That purpose, in this Government's view, is to support people to remain on the land and to bring people back to the land. The role of government is to enable and support people so to do and also to remain there creating a sustainable, productive environment in which they can both live and work. We must invest in crofting as we traditionally understand it. That means providing it with an effective regulatory and statutory framework. For some communities, and indeed the Crofting Commission itself, this last year has been particularly challenging and time will be required to heal the wounds that these communities feel from recent experiences. I am pleased to advise Parliament that the commission is now moving on from these testing times and is working hard to re-establish its role as an effective regulatory body. We had a very successful set of elections for the Crofting Commission board in March, with 16 candidates coming forward for six commissioner posts. Together with three commissioners appointed by me, the new board has spent the last few months learning about and settling into their new roles. Those are key to enabling the commission to fulfil its statutory functions and to developing a stable, supportive framework for crofting activity. I can also announce today, Presiding Officer, the appointment of Mr Rod MacKenzie, the elected commissioner from East Highlands, as the new chair of the Crofting Commission board. Rod, who is an active crofter, brings with him great experience and knowledge, not just from crofting but also from his business background. Collectively, the commissioners bring a wealth of crofting talent to the Crofting Commission. I wish them well in their new roles and look forward to engaging with them. In January of this year, Bill Barron was appointed as chief executive of the Crofting Commission. Since then, the chief executive has rightly focused on the need to renew trust in the commission, particularly with stakeholders, and on the functionality of the commission itself. Presiding Officer, in February I published the review of governance at the commission. I asked for this review to consider specific weaknesses that had become apparent over the last year. The review provided a welcome and timely approach to take stock, to learn from experiences and examine positives, as well as opportunities for improvement. Presiding Officer, I can advise Parliament that the commission will today publish its action plan to implement the review findings, and that work is already under way to address three key areas for improvement. First, revised Governments arrangements are being developed for the board to build capacity and confidence among commissioners on the extent and limits of their duties. Second, action is being taken internally to improve the systems, procedures and support mechanisms to underpin effective board decision making and collective adherence to those decisions. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the commission has engaged with stakeholders consulting over the procedures for managing common raisings. This engagement is contributing to improving relationships between the commission and crofters. Significant though its role is, the Crofting Commission is not the sole barometer of health in our crofting communities. This Government is committed to investing in and supporting crofting and crofting activities now and in the future. Key to this, Presiding Officer, is enabling more people to live and work on their land. Since 2007, we have approved over £16 million in grants for croft housing, helping to build or improve over 800 homes for crofters and their families. That demonstrates the importance of access to affordable housing in remote areas. It is vital that the Croft House grant continues to fulfil its intended purpose of enabling people to stay and encouraging others to settle in our island and rural communities. I have therefore increased the budget for this scheme by a further £600,000 in 2017-18, taking the total allocation to £2 million in May this year. However, we also provide funding and practical support for crofting. The crofting agricultural grants scheme, known as CAGS, has seen over 3,550 applications since 2010, with a value of £10 million. We are providing support for new and young crofters through the £2 million new entrant start-up grant for farming and crofting, and the £6 million young farmer start-up grant. Crofters can also access a bespoke subscription service provided by the Farm Advisory Service. We have established the crofting cattle improvement scheme, including a £3 million bull stud that offers subsidised rates for crofters. Each year, more than 100 bulls are hired to over 80 townships with approximately 400 beneficiaries. If we are to encourage and enable more people into crofting, we need to offer them a modern statutory framework. We have committed to review crofting law during this Parliament to make the legislation more transparent, understandable and workable in practice. I welcome the Rural Economy and Economy Committee's findings from its crofting inquiry in the debate in May. I have not yet formally responded to that report in full. It provides us with much to consider and to explore further with stakeholders in terms of how to proceed with a new crofting bill. The issues are complex and opinions on them, as the committee's own report demonstrated, are diverse. There are no straightforward answers and there may be no quick solution. Compromise may well be required from us all to reach consensus. I will therefore update the committee on a regular basis as we make progress and reach conclusions on its key findings. I believe that such an iterative process will enable us to get the new bill right. Traditional crofting has a role to play in our ambitions to see more people will be able to live and work in the highlands and islands, to re-people the highlands and islands. However, we must also maximise the opportunity and potential from a modern approach to crofting. That means enabling different ways of working the land and creating sustainable crofting communities. Connectivity, and especially digital connectivity, is crucial. It enables people in the most remote parts of Scotland to do the same as people in towns and cities. Our investment since 2012 has made a huge difference. In 2012, only a quarter of premises had access to fibre broadband in the highlands. Over three quarters have such access. In Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, not a single premise had access. Now it is, respectively, 62 per cent, 65 per cent and 50 per cent. That connectivity enables people to make lives and livelihoods on the land, to diversify to create sustainable livelihoods and to collaborate with neighbours and communities to find common solutions. In conclusion, that approach is as important to supporting crofting more generally, as it is to reforming its statutory frameworks. The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in his statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions after which we must move on to the next item of business. It will be helpful if members who wish to ask a question are to press the request to speak buttons now. I call on Peter Chapman. I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for advance sight of his statement. May I also take this opportunity to join the minister in welcoming the newly elected commission and wishing them and their teams all the best as they take forward a programme to improve legislation and governance around crofting and secure the future of this important part of Scotland's heritage. Like many rural communities, the crofting community is fragile and needs support and help to move forward with confidence. It is important that the new commission has the confidence of the crofting community and that it works to understand and resolve the many issues around in particular common grazings, which were an on-going source of concern during the term of the last commission. The cabinet secretary will be as aware as I am of the issues that have recently affected the commission, in that I believe that it became two hands-on with dealing with disputes. In order to prevent that, would he agree with me that the commission should look now to take a more executive function in shaping and leading policy? I welcome Mr Chapman's remarks and I suspect that they will be echoed across the chamber. That is right and proper that we express our support for the commission in moving away from the difficult times last year. I think that we all recognise, without going into details, that there were a series of unfortunate episodes, not to say, confrontations that existed between the commission and certain townships with regard to common grazing, the regulation and issues therein end. It is up to the commission to take forward those matters. I think that we must, particularly given the review of its governance, which has just been completed and the action plan that it formed today, allow it to do its job. I am pretty sure, I would say to Mr Chapman, that the new chief executive and the new convener will, I am sure, be taking a close interest in what is said today and the messages conveyed. I very much support Mr Chapman's view that we all need to move away from the somewhat confrontational and very unfortunate episodes that caused huge ructions and personal concern amongst many individual crofters and communities. That is the right course ahead. In the newly elected commission and the new convener, we have the right people to take forward that work. I also thank the cabinet secretary for her prior sight of the statement and congratulate Rod MacKenzie and his appointment as chair. I welcome the change in governance arrangements, but I am concerned about the lack of detail in the statement about them. The problems arose from the 2010 act that changed the commission from the crofter's commission to the crofting commission, a move from a culture of assistance to a culture of regulation. Practice on the ground and indeed the statement today show that this has not worked. Will he now reverse those changes and delegate further powers to Grazing's committees to enable them to develop their own townships? First of all, I hope that I made clear that, of three issues that I highlighted in the governance review, one of them is to clarify the scope and extent of the duties of individual commissioners. There was, I think, an element of dubiety about that. That is now being taken forward following the review and the action plan that was published today. Second of all, the member fairly refers to the previous legislation in 2010. She is right to do so, but law is words on a page. My personal view is that the difficulties that arose were not perhaps so much about the law but various personal issues that I really do not want to go into. Now that those are really behind us, I think that we have the opportunity in future to let the commission get on with its job, a job that I think that we all respect and appreciate and want to be supportive of in its chamber. I am sure that that is the approach that Rhoda Grant and our colleagues will take. Thank you. I have 10 members wishing to ask questions. I hope to get them all in, so questions please, not statements. Kate Forbes followed by Edward Mountain, please. To ask the cabinet secretary how the Crofting Commission can better support active crofting and ensure that crofters are used productively so that, in the words of the cabinet secretary, crofting supports people to remain on the land and bring people back to the land. I think that this is one of the missions of the Crofting Commission, that this is exactly what they want to do working in collaboration with the Scottish Government, but also working with the local authorities in the islands and the mainland and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. I absolutely agree that helping people to work actively to have access to crofters and to have access to housing crofters are key objectives that we all share. As I mentioned, our aim is to re-peopel the Highlands and Islands, and crofting has a key role to play in that regard. Edward Mountain followed by Stuart Stevenson, Mr Mountain. I would like to welcome the cabinet secretary's commitment to a review of crofting law and a new bill. The rec committee was clear that a legislative platform that fits the reality of modern crofting practices is needed. Will the cabinet secretary undertake to ensure time to allow new legislation to be proposed, scrutinised and enacted before the end of this Parliament? We are committed to legislating within the lifetime of this Parliament, so I am happy to provide him with the assurance that he seeks. It is a commitment to which we are bound. Having said that, I am certainly of the view, as I mentioned in the statement that we need to get this right. That takes a lot of time and discussion. There is lots of valuable information that we have. The report from the committee recently, the Shucksmith report, what is called the Sump, which is an aggregate collection of the wisdom of some of our expert crofting lawyers about changes that need to be made. However, we also need to consider which option we wish to go down—a fundamental reform, the Sump and the implementation of that, a consolidation act or a variety of different approaches. It is right that we take time to listen to views that Mr Mountain has advocated and, if so, he is correct to take time to sound out those views. I will also personally seek to maintain the broad consensual approach in this Parliament that we have brought to the issue, which will certainly help us to get on the right track to do that task before the end of this Parliament. Stuart Stevenson, followed by David Stewart. Can I welcome the news that 4,000 crofts are now registered? Can the cabinet secretary tell us how we are going to help communities to ensure that the remaining 14,000 crofts are appropriately registered? Yes, indeed. There is a lot of work that has been done and a lot more that needs to be done. Since the crofting register commenced, the Government has been working with Registers of Scotland and the Commission to help crofting communities to complete registration of their crofts. Registers of Scotland have engaged with 346 townships in the past year and continues to promote the benefits of registering. To date, ROS has held meetings with 18 townships and supported a further 38 communities. In crofting terms, Registers of Scotland is an activist, although it may not term itself thus. From my own work in overseeing Registers of Scotland for the previous five years, I know that they bring huge professionalism and enormous commitment to that task. There is a lot of work to be done, but Registers of Scotland are the right people to be in charge of leading it. Can the cabinet secretary provide more detail on the proposed support mechanisms being put in place to underpin effective board decision making and collective adherence to those decisions? The primary way in which we sought to provide assistance was by collaboratively agreeing that there should be a review of governance. That review was carried out independently of the Scottish Government and the Crofting Commission. It is reported and it is recognised ways in which the decision making mechanism needs to be improved. I outlined that in general terms and highlighted three particular areas that I think have been recognised as causative of concern. Just today, the commission has published an action plan and I am sure that Mr Stewart will want to study it. I am very happy to engage with him and other members about how we take that forward. However, it is, of course, the prime responsibility of the commission to do its job under the new leadership. I believe that we can have great confidence that that is exactly what it will do. John Mason, to be followed by John Finnie, Mr Mason. Thank you. It is very encouraging to hear that the cabinet secretary expressed his confidence about the commission going forward. What does he feel are the main challenges that crofting faces in the coming year? How does he feel that we, as a chamber committee, can help them? Crofters and those who actively work and live in crofts are fairly resilient people and they are used to making their own way, making their own lives and taking responsibility for their own actions, but they need some support. In particular, the key area that I would highlight in response to Mr Mason's question is the less favoured areas scheme. As we know, the ELFAS scheme has seen changes in the EU that we did not support but would see the reduction of the overall payment by 20 per cent unless the European Parliament postpones that, which I hope it does. However, we also need to ensure that that support is maintained over the years to come. That is because I am absolutely certain of this that hill farming in Scotland provides enormous benefit and farming and crofting counties are recipients of ELFAS support. Continuance of that support, by one means or other, and in the event of a Brexit, post-Brexit, is absolutely essential to the continuance of active crofting and looking after livestock. To answer Mr Mason's question, the key challenge that active crofters are facing at the current time. Homelessness and fuel poverty are two issues that blight communities, including the crofting communities. Can you encourage the crofting commission to maximise opportunities to work with local authorities, register social landlords and high to improve the number of houses and the energy efficiency of houses, please? Cabinet Secretary. Yes, I think that that is something that I would urge them to do, although I know that already a lot of work is done on those matters. I am quite proud of the fact that that this Government, my successors and now myself, have been able to see 800 cases where young people and their families have received a grant, a relatively modest grant, in the scheme of things from the Scottish Government. That is 800 people in the crofting counties. That is re-peopling the Highlands and Islands. I think that that resonates with the kind of message that Mr Finnie and I support and, I suspect, have always supported land for the people, I think, was the cry. We have, for 800 people, turned that cry into a reality. That is why I have added to the funding of £2 million this year, thanks to the generosity and support of my colleague Mr Mackay, who is present in the chamber, given the close interest that he takes in crofting. On the policy that the Cabinet Secretary discussed earlier on, would he look at two areas? First, the need to change the one-size-fits-all crofting regulation to an approach that is based on the needs of individual crofting counties. Secondly, would he accept the need for whole-croft de-crofting? He will understand the importance of that issue across the Highlands and Islands. Finally, on his point about connections, would he accept that community broadband Scotland has failed after three years to make a broadband scheme happen in Feral? Would he undertake to look into that matter, as it is a deep concern to the crofter's concern? On the last point, I would be happy to get more information from Mr Scott, and, certainly, I will look into it, of course, and undertake to do so. On the first two points, I am absolutely aware that, in Shetland, there is a different approach from the rest of the communities that are covered by the Crofting Commission. Therefore, the commission should respect that in the work that it does and, in respect of de-crofting, I am acutely aware of the importance of that process, the importance that is carried out speedily efficiently in order to prevent delays in respect of transactions and to speed up the process of what I have termed today as re-peopling the Highlands and Islands. Gail Ross, we fall by Finlay Carson. Ms Ross, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I also welcome Mr Rod MacKenzie to his new post. Can the cabinet secretary tell me if the Crofting Commission are accepting applications to de-croft from owner-occupiers and what its position will be on this issue going forward? Well, this is one of the hot topics that I hope to engage fairly directly with the Crofting Commission in due course. Gail Ross, of course, takes a very close interest in that for constituents and it is a very important topic. I do not want to prejudge the approach that the commission will take, but I think that we all want to achieve the same objectives here of bringing people back on to the land. Therefore, I am very happy to continue to engage with Gail Ross and to pursue that particular issue, which I know is an important issue with the commission. Finlay Carson, we follow Mary Todd. We welcome the cabinet secretary's aim to enable different ways of working the land and to create sustainable crofting. Can the cabinet secretary shed any light to provide an example of how he intends to achieve those aims? Well, a variety of methods, plainly the CAGs grants provides very practical support for crofters. In fact, some non-crofters are quite envious of elements of it, as I'm sure Mr Carson is aware. That's one example. Secondly, I have alluded to the investment in connectivity that has been made, in the first case, in the contract with BT, with the Highlands and Islands. That has provided access to many people in island communities where that access hitherto did not exist, and therefore is a good thing. Thirdly, I have alluded to the croft grants scheme, in which we revise to increase the level of the grants quite significantly and is providing direct benefit to individual couples' families to establish a home. I visited some of them. I think that it is a very cost-effective way of helping to sustain the crofting communities in general. Those are three examples. Finally, we aim to bring forward a crofting development plan. The point that Mr Carson makes is quite right that the sustainability of crofting, which, of course, as far my activity is, is very marginal. There are very few of any crofters whose sole livelihood was derived from crofting, in terms of their overall earnings. For most people, it is something that they do as a way of life, not as a means of ensuring a livelihood of financial income each year. However, the crofting development plan will take forward all of those matters. I agree with the cabinet secretary that it is essential for the future of crofting in Scotland that any new bill reforming crofting is a success. Therefore, we provide an assurance that we take our time to consider what is best for crofting and work closely with the stakeholders, crofters and communities that are affected as openly as possible throughout this whole process. I could observe, having been a minister for 10 years, that it is never particularly difficult for a Government to take some time to do things. However, that aberrant reflection aside, in that case, I think that it is the right approach precisely because some of the previous legislation in this Parliament on crofting has been subject to the criticism that we have not spent enough time thinking, we have not spent enough time listening and discussing in an area where there are diverse views, in many cases extremely strongly held. Therefore, I hope that it is a view across this chamber that the fact that we take our time is not out of any desire to delay things but a desire to get it right and bring about a piece of legislation that takes crofting forward for many decades to come in this century. Thank you cabinet secretary. That concludes questions on that issue. I will allow a few minutes for front benches to take their places before we move on to the next item of business.