Public appointment: Commissioners appointed to the Crofting Commission

The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, Mairi Gougeon MSP, today announced the appointment of Duncan Macaulay and Andrew Thin as Commissioners of the Crofting Commission.

Commissioner

Duncan Macaulay has spent almost forty years in leadership roles in global real estate and private equity investment directly responsible for building and managing complex large-scale portfolios of assets and organisations in leading markets globally.  This includes a US private equity fund Investcorp, his own development company in Manhattan (Heller Macaulay Equites), global CEO at sovereign fund Dubai Holding and Senior Managing Director, Middle East and Africa, at investment bank Credit Suisse.  He is currently Senior Advisor at Public Investment Fund in Saudi Arabia and a Court Member of the University of the Highlands and Islands.  He was born and brought up on a family croft and is now resident on a croft in a remote rural location.

Andrew Thin is Chair of the Scottish Land Commission as well as an Independent Prison Monitor within HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland.  He has almost 30 years of experience in leadership roles in the public, private and third sectors, and has a particular interest in strategic and cultural leadership.  He has a Masters Degree in Business Administration and has worked extensively in board level roles in the private, public and third sectors.  His previous public sector board roles have included Crofters Commissioner, Children’s Hearings Scotland, Chair of the Cairngorms National Park Authority, Chair of Scottish Natural Heritage and Chair of Scottish Canals.

Appointments

The appointments will be for three years and run from 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2025.

The appointments are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.

Remuneration and time commitment

The appointment attracts remuneration of £178.23 per day for a time commitment of 4.5 days per month.

Other ministerial appointments

Mr Thin is Chair of the Board of the Scottish Land Commission.  He receives c£15,000 per annum for a time commitment of one day per week.

Mr Macaulay does not hold any other public appointments.

Political activity

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.  However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public.

Mr Macaulay and Mr Thin have had no political activity within the last five years.

Background

The Crofting Commission is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) which operates on a day-to-day basis independently of the Scottish Government, but for which Scottish Ministers are ultimately responsible.  The Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 created the Crofting Commission, which came into being on 1 April 2012, taking over from the Crofters Commission.  The Commission’s general functions are:

• regulating crofting;
• re-organising crofting;
• promoting the interests of crofting; and
• keeping under review matters relating to crofting.

The Commission’s vision is that crofts and crofting communities continue to enhance the social, cultural, economic and environmental fabric of the crofting areas.  Its purpose is to regulate the crofting system fairly and reasonable to protect it for future generations.