 Welcome to the 40th and final meeting of 2015 of the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee, although I think we'll all be meeting each other this afternoon in the chamber. Before we move to the first item, remind people to switch off their mobile phones. Members of the committee do use their tablets for the digital format of papers today. Agenda item 1 is the decision-taking about removing the items 5 and 6 to take them in private. They are the consideration of correspondence regarding SRUC and the committee's future work programme. Are we agreed to take those in private? Agenda item 2, subordinate legislation, about the community right to buy Scotland regulations 2015 SSI 2015-400 and the Community Empowerment Scotland Act 2015 consequential modifications and savings order 2016 draft. We've been joined by the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Dr Aileen McLeod and her officials. I welcome them all here. Dr McLeod plus David Thompson, the head of the community land team and Angela Lawson Solister. I wonder if the minister would care to speak to the instrument please. Good morning, convener. I'm pleased to be here this morning to support the committee's consideration of the draft Community Empowerment Scotland Act 2015 consequential modifications and savings order 2016. The order is technical in nature and is necessary as a consequence of amendments to the Land Reform Scotland Act 2003. Henceforth, the 2003 act that were made by the Community Empowerment Scotland Act 2015 henceforth the 2015 act. The two consequential amendments to the 2003 act ensure that references to community for the purposes of the approval of and appeals about the right to buy land are properly defined in relation to community bodies. Prior to the 2015 act, the only form that community bodies could take in order to make a right to buy application was a company limited by guarantee. The types of body constituting community bodies have been extended by section 37.4 of the 2015 act to include Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations skills and community benefit societies Bencoms. The amendments to the 2003 act ensure that the new types of body, which have been included, are subject to the same legislative provisions companies limited by guarantee in the community right to buy regime. These are minor technical changes. Additionally, those consequential modifications are not to apply in relation to approvals or appeals, which are related to an application to register an interest in land made prior to the 15th of April 2016. The savings provision at article 3 of this instrument achieves this, and this is in line with the general commencement and savings of the provisions in part 4 of the 2015 act, which modify parts 2 and 4 of the 2003 act and are laid down. In the community empowerment Scotland act 2015, commencement number 3 in savings order 2015. Do any members wish to make comments or whatever? I think that there is an acceptance by the Government that there is a drafting error in it. I think that there is a further acceptance that there could be an opportunity to provide clarity. I am just wondering why, when the report on deadlines 18th of January, perhaps it was not amended and then brought forward? I understand that the drafting error that the member refers to is in the negative instrument rather than in the affirmative. In which case do any other members have any comments to make at the moment? No other members seem to wish to make any comments. I think that it is further to Graham Day's point, but it does strike me that, if not errors, the way that this instrument has been drafted is going to have to lead to at least two other instruments being brought forward. That strikes me as a rather unsatisfactory weight to bring secondary legislation to the Parliament. Is there any comment to make as to whether that could have been avoided? I will pass to Angela Lawson. We noted the concerns of the DPLRC as well. We are going to lay one instrument, which is a very short, amending instrument, to take into account a date that was incorrect in the negative instrument. That is the community right to buy Scotland regulations 2015. We apologise for that typographical error. It will be a very simple instrument that will amend it. It has allowed us to take the opportunity to alleviate concerns of the DPLRC on a couple of other points. At the end of the day, the legislation on the statute book will be better for it. I think that there is one further instrument that has been brought forward to change the date from 20 April 2015 to 2016, which I absolutely agree is a very simple one. I think that I am right in saying that there is another one to be brought forward to specify the balater as the person to whom the documents have been provided. Will that be done in the same instrument? We can actually do everything in one instrument rather than take up more committee in parliamentary times. That will all be wrapped up in one. The only reason that I raise it is that we have all become aware of the number of instruments that we are going to have to be dealing with between now and the end of the Parliament. Any fewer would be welcome. We try to push this package of community empowerment instruments through early. We are working quickly in order to avoid the glut of instruments that will come towards election time. With the land reform bill, you will have a lot of work ahead of you. I press the minister to make sure that we have them in the first week of January. I am happy to do that. It would help us enormously if that is at all possible. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Minister, do you wish to wind up? I am happy to wind up. In that case, we move to the debate on agenda item 3. This is the third item today to consider motion S4M-15152, asking for the committee to recommend approval of the Community Empowerment Scotland Act 2015 consequential modifications and savings order 2016 draft. Although we have taken evidence on the community right to buy Scotland regulation 2015 SSI 2015-400, that is a negative instrument and will be considered as item 4 on the agenda. The motion is that the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee recommends that the Community Empowerment Scotland Act 2015 consequential modifications and savings order 2016 draft be approved. Are we all agreed? We are all agreed and therefore we indicate our support for this. Minister, you better formally move the motion. Formally moved. Thank you very much. Members wish to speak? No. In that case, Minister, do you want to wind up? No. The question is that the motion S4M-15152 in the name of Aileen McLeod be approved. Are we all agreed? We are agreed and we record the result and thank Aileen McLeod and her officials. It is near the end of the term, isn't it? Thank you very much. The fourth item today in the agenda is for the committee to consider four negative instruments. One, the seed potato Scotland regulations 2015, SSI 2015, 395. The seed potatoes fees Scotland regulations 2015, SSI 2015, 396. The animal byproducts miscellaneous amendments Scotland regulations 2015, SSI 2015, 393. And the community right to buy Scotland regulations 2015, SSI 2015, 400, as previously mentioned. Last week, the committee considered the animal byproducts miscellaneous amendments Scotland regulations 2015, SSI 2015, 393 and agreed to seek further information from the Government on this and we now have this response. I refer members to the paper. Are there any comments, members? Yes, Mike Russell. The issue of the animal byproducts, I've read the letter. I have to say it doesn't fill me with conviction that it is as it is said but as I cannot prove to the contrary, I'm not prepared to do any more but I would like to have seen some more substantive evidence. Firstly, those of my constituents who operate fish farms in our Garland butte have been wasting money by going to landfill and secondly the opportunities to go to landfill are so great that no problems will occur therein. Should any such problems occur, I should be the first to bring it to the attention of the Government but we'll see what happens. I'm sure you'll raise a stink. Are there any other comments on any of the SSIs? Claudia Beamish. I'd just like to comment on the SSI on sea potatoes just to highlight how important it is that there is clarity on these issues in relation to the very difficult situation of farmers who are in that sector and also in relation to clarity for export. I just wanted to highlight that. Okay, thank you. Any other comments just now? If that's so then, I asked the committee, are we agreed that it does not wish to make any recommendations in relation to each of these instruments? We are agreed, thank you very much and thank you minister for attending. Future meeting details, the next meeting perhaps on the 13th of January, we will take evidence on the Scottish Government's wildlife crime in Scotland 2014 annual report and consider a draft of our budget report. As this is the last meeting of the committee this year, I thank members for their contributions to the committee's achievements over the last 12 months. On behalf of the committee, I thank everyone in the gallery, ministers, SPICE, the official report and everyone who has helped to make this committee work so well. I wish everyone a merry Christmas and the very best for 2016 and I now close the public part of the meeting and ask for the public gallery to be cleared.