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Where a salmon fishing abuts croft land it is intended that only the part of the salmon fishing property which actually abuts the croft land should be capable of being acquired through the crofting community right to buy.

The requirements of section 14(2) of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993 relating to valuation of a croft apply solely to the purchase of a croft by the tenant of that croft where that purchase is a consequence of an order made by the Land Court under section 13 of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993. The provisions relating to the valuation of land under Part 3 of the Land Reform Bill are contained in section 85 of the bill and these make it clear that the consideration will be based on the market value of the land as determined by a valuer. Section 85 does not constrain the valuer to any particular methodology in assessing market value.

It is open to parties in a case to appeal against a decision of a sheriff to a higher court. If litigants wish to register a complaint about the actings of a sheriff they may write to the Sheriff Principal of the relevant sheriffdom or to the Judicial Appointments Division of the Scottish Executive Justice Department, Hayweight House, 23 Lauriston Street, Edinburgh EH3 9DQ.

Sheriffs are independent of the Executive and there is no formal assessment of performance. Complaints about performance may be investigated in the manner described in the answer given to question S1W-27835 today.

Training is not compulsory although the practice is for all new members of the Judiciary to attend induction training at the time of their first appointment. Training programmes are organised and run by the independent Judicial Studies Committee which is funded by my department. The programme has been extended in recent years to include refresher training for experienced people and I am advised that substantial numbers of sheriffs attend training events.

Under Section 12 of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971 the First Minister may establish an investigation into the fitness for office of any sheriff. During such an investigation the sheriff may be suspended from office. If the First Minister receives a report to the effect that a sheriff is unfit he may make an order removing the sheriff from office. The order would be subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament.

No such research has been undertaken or commissioned by the Scottish Executive nor do we believe such research is needed. We are satisfied that any temporary uncertainties created by those who oppose the legislation will be resolved once the legislation is enacted. Once the minimal risks to owners are properly understood, the market will ensure that there is no long-term impact.

The Scottish Executive does not accept that the implementation of legislative provisions for a crofting community right to buy as proposed in Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill will have an adverse impact on the market value of salmon fishings, sporting rights and mineral rights. Consequently we have no plans to pay compensation to owners of such holdings.

In their decision letter following the Public Inquiry, Scottish ministers accepted the reporter's recommendation to give early consideration to funding the option of extending the link road through to Inchture Interchange. Due to higher priorities on the A90 and elsewhere on the trunk road network it has, to date, not proved possible to accommodate the link road in the current programme.

This situation did not arise as the additional statutory road and compulsory purchase orders required for a link road to Inchture are not in place.