Crofting and Scottish Land Court Bill: child rights and wellbeing impact assessment

3. Please provide a summary of the evidence gathered which will be used to inform your decision-making and the content of the proposal

3.1 Evidence from existing research/reports/policy expertise

3.1.1 Crofting

The Crofting Commission Annual Report and Accounts, indicates that there are 14,890 crofters who occupy 21,673 crofts. Of those crofters, approximately 0.1% are aged under 21 years. The Commission has confirmed that according to the Register of Crofts, as at March 2025, there are two crofters who are under 18 years, one is aged 17 and one is aged 16. The age of legal capacity in Scotland is 16 years, so any crofters who are under 16, would have an appointed legal guardian to help manage the croft and meet the legal rights and responsibilities over the land. Based on this evidence, the number of children and young people who could be affected by the proposals for crofting law reform, as a crofter in their own right, would be very small.

According to the Economic condition of crofting survey: 2019 to 2022, crofters are, on average, over 54 years, with 42% of crofters aged 65 and over. Based on this evidence, it is expected that the number of children and young people who could be affected by the proposals for crofting law reform, indirectly as the child of a crofter, landlord or landowner, would be relatively small.

Having considered the evidence, although there is potential for children to be effected by the proposals contained in the Bill, the nature of the Bill means that the impact on children is neither positive nor negative.

3.1.2 Scottish Land Court

The amalgamation of the Land Court and Lands Tribunal is essentially administrative in nature. The two existing jurisdictions will be merged into one expanded Scottish Land Court. The same can be said for the Upper Tribunal membership proposals, which relate to maximising available judicial resources.

No evidence exists which is relevant to the assessment.

3.2 Evidence from consultation/feedback from stakeholders

3.2.1 Crofting

The proposals have been developed through extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders in the Crofting Bill Group, comprising:

• Crofting Commission
• Highlands & Islands Enterprise
• Scottish Crofting Federation
• National Farmers Union Scotland
• NatureScot
• Law Society of Scotland
• Scottish Land Court
• Scottish Land & Estates
• Registers of Scotland
• Highlands and Islands Agricultural Support Group – Shetland Islands Council
• Crofting Solicitors

There was also an open invitation to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and Crofting Commission Commissioners to attend Bill Group meetings. Of those attending as a representative of an organisation/body, there were a number who were crofters.

During the development of the proposals, the Crofting Bill Team held 19 meetings with the Crofting Bill Group. Given the importance of assessing the impact of each of the proposals on everyone within the sector, including crofters and their families, officials and stakeholders considered the consequences of these changes as they were being developed. The proposals were also discussed at other stakeholder meetings and eight meetings of the Cross-Party Group on Crofting.

In June 2024, the Scottish Government launched a 12-week public consultation to seek views on proposals for crofting law reform. This included:

• A public consultation paper published on the Scottish Government website and supported by a Citizen Space survey; and
• Target engagement during the consultation period, attended by those most likely to be affected, and groups representing their interests;

The consultation survey, delivered online via Citizen Space, set out a series of questions covering the following key areas:

• strengthening residency and land use
• entry to crofting
• enhanced Crofting Commission powers
• crofting communities
• simplifying crofting
• clarifications and corrections; and
• use of common grazings

In addition, 15 in-person events, attended by over 250 individuals, were held across the crofting counties to promote the consultation and allow crofters to have their say and learn more about the proposals being considered.

A total of 163 responses to the consultation were received, 83% were from individuals and 17% were organisational responses. None of the consultation responses, submitted online or via email, or in the in-person events, identified any impact on children and young people’s rights. The crofting proposals will impact all members of the crofting community equally, irrespective of age, gender etc.

The Scottish Government published the analysis of responses to the public consultation on 15 November 2024.

3.2.2 Scottish Land Court

The Scottish Government published a consultation paper, ‘The Future of the Land Court and the Lands Tribunal’, on 27 July 2020. The Scottish Government consulted on various issues relating to the Land Court and the Lands Tribunal. The main questions were whether the two bodies should be amalgamated; if so, whether the resultant body should be a court or a tribunal; and whether the statutory requirement that there should be a Gaelic speaking member of the Land Court should be retained. An analysis of responses was published in June 2021.

A total of 58 responses to the consultation were received. Respondents included individuals and organisations, and came from a range of interests including academics with an interest in land use or environmental matters, judicial or legal representative groups, public bodies, non-departmental public bodies, land use management representative body and farmers’ representative bodies. None of the consultation responses identified any impacts on children and young people’s rights.

3.3 Evidence from consultation/feedback directly from children and young people

3.3.1 Crofting

We did not receive any responses to the consultation from organisations representing children and young people under 18, however, this was expected given the focused nature of the proposed legislation which concentrates on the crofting sector. That said, there were a number of young crofters, and aspiring crofters under the age of 18, that attended some of the in-person events.

Our assessment is that further targeted consultation with children and young people under 18, and/or the bodies representing them, is not necessary. We have reached this conclusion based on the evidence that of the 14,890 crofters only two are aged under 18. Whilst this number could increase, the evidence gathered from the Economic Condition of Crofting reports published since 2010, suggest that the age profile of crofters has not varied significantly over the years. Although we do see a healthy number of new entrants each year - with around 26% aged 40 or under - the number aged under 18 remains relatively unchanged. As a result, we have concluded that there would be a very small number of individuals, aged under 18 years, who could be directly affected by the proposals, and those individuals would be effected in the same manner as other age groups.

3.3.2 Scottish Land Court

No responses to the consultation were received from organisations representing children and young people under 18, however this was expected given the nature of the proposal which is primarily administrative in nature.

Our assessment is that further targeted consultation with children and young people under 18, and/or bodies representing them, is not necessary. The amalgamation of the Land Court and Lands Tribunal is essentially administrative in nature as are the proposals in respect of Upper Tribunal membership which relate to maximising available judicial resources. The amalgamation will affect all potential litigants equally and individuals under the age of 18 will be affected in the same manner as other age groups.