Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office, Edinburgh - Briefing Document Five

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Parliamentary Officer:Rev Graham Blount
Phone:
0131 558 8137

Briefing Document No 5 - Page 1 of 4

"Down to Business": The Scottish Executive's Legislative Programme and Priorities

There were less than sixty people in the public gallery to hear "for the first time, a programme of legislation for Scotland … laid before a democratically elected Parliament in Scotland". Some of the media, slightly in the huff over the Executive's refusal to divulge details to a press briefing the previous day, found the occasion of less interest than the skirmish over the cost of the new Holyrood building. Donald Dewar saw it as the beginning of "sensible politics" and declared his Executive's aim to be "social justice in a prosperous Scotland"; Malcolm Chisholm found the proposals "refreshingly radical"; Alex Salmond felt them to be lacking in ambition; and the Scottish Parliament held a fairly low-key debate about a set of proposed legislation which contained few surprises.

So, on 16 June, the Scottish Parliament got down to business with its nearest equivalent to the Westminster "Queen's Speech" - the First Minister set out the Executive's proposed legislative programme of eight Bills for the first year of the Parliament. Each of them (and there were, he said, seven more than the Westminster timetable would have allowed) represented "a Scottish solution to a distinct Scottish need, now the responsibility of this Parliament".

This SCPO briefing simply sets out the basic proposals, with a brief commentary suggesting possible questions and concerns for the churches, and areas in which there has already been work done or other involvement by the churches on these issues.

Land Reform (A): General
The right of communities to buy land when it comes on the market, and a right of "responsible access" were mentioned as key ingredients of proposals, based on those of the Land Reform Policy Group, which are "a central element of our Partnership's commitment to enhance rural life". The Tories do not think this is a priority issue (especially compared with problems in agriculture), while the SNP signalled that they might want to go further (eg a community right to buy which does not depend on land coming on to the market).

Following reports by the Free Church and the Church of Scotland, and an Episcopalian conference on this theme, ACTS has been a founder member of the Scottish Land Reform Convention. A rich vein of Biblical and theological material (on stewardship, covenant, jubilee and justice), as well as pastoral experience have informed this involvement. (Ironically, the announcement coincided with the courts turning down the Carbeth Hutters' case, partly based on theological grounds which the media treated as a joke.) With partners in the Convention, we will be watching carefully the proposals (which have already been the subject of consultations involving the churches).

Land Reform comes under the remit of the Minister for Justice, Jim Wallace, and his Deputy, Angus McKay, rather than, say, Rural Affairs or Environment; this could be seen as fitting in with some of the churches' thinking on the social justice issues involved, as well as the presence of urban as well as rural issues. We will, however, continue to emphasise the links between land ownership and use.