Parliamentary Briefing for A.N.Other for 24/01/2012

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Keywords: advice scotland citizens advice

S4M-01556 The Work of Citizens Advice Scotland (lodged on 09 December 2011) Stuart McMillan*

Keywords: tribunal

Although the bill strengthens the rules around prescription and a non domino titles, I recommend that alternative arrangements should be put in place to deal with land that has no apparent owner. The Registers of Scotland should publically advertise for at least six months any claims, and associated supporting evidence, made for land that is apparently not owned. This approach supports the total transparency of information that should pervade this bill. After six months the Keeper should review the claim or claims and be able to admit an a non domino deed for registration. Any disputes associated with the claims should be settled by the Lands Tribunal.

Keywords: tribunal

The understanding of the extent of the unregistered residue of land seems restrictive e.g. no account appears to be being taken of the tens if not hundreds of thousand of slithers, small areas of ground which were retained (not conveyed) by developers, estate owners. The developers, estate owners may no longer exist or may have abandoned the land. The Lands Tribunal case [PMP Plus Ltd v The Keeper & others] infers rights in common in developments to residue of land in the development not identified until the development is completed are in fact not validly conveyed and as a result are not registered. The inference from the said Lands Tribunal case is that there will be inaccuracies in the register in that land thought to be included in the registered titles is not in fact include in those registered title i.e. they will be added to the pool of unregistered titles.

Keywords: tribunal

The practical application of this proposal does not appear to have been thought out. The difficulties that arise following the Lands Tribunal decision (PMP Plus Ltd v The Keeper and others) in relation to unspecified rights in common to property are not dealt with. What forms a shared plot in existing title sheets is in a state of flux. Based on the Lands Tribunals view there are several thousand inaccurate title sheets.

Keywords: tribunal

We remain concerned particularly around the time taken to register new build properties which means that our members are often left exposed to risk as they do not have an effective security. A number of the issues around registration we believe relate to the common areas and the ruling of the Lands Tribunal in the PMP Plus case. We note that the previous proposal of provisional shared title plots has now been dropped from the Bill and we certainly would welcome assurances from the Keeper that the current delays in registration of new build can be addressed.

Keywords: tribunal

Only after the expiry of this period should the Keeper have any power to admit an a non domino deed for registration. Any contested claims should be settled by the Lands Tribunal.

Keywords: tribunal

The Lands Tribunal shall adjudicate on any contested claims but if none are made, then the Keeper shall record a title and the land shall be registered as a common. Statutory power for their management would be vested in local authorities.

Keywords: tribunal

Chic Brodie (South Scotland) (SNP): Good morning. You said that the Ordnance Survey map is fit for purpose, although with certain conditions. The bill proposes the continuation of the current mapping system. However, you said that it is a compromise. Unfortunately, courts and tribunals do not necessarily accept compromises; they need hard information. I therefore suggest to you that the Ordnance Survey map is not fit for purpose. Have you thought about what alternative there might be to the current mapping system?

Keywords: tribunal

In cases where we have gone to the Lands Tribunal we have pursued it on that basis, because, evidentially, fraud is very hard to prove other than in extreme cases. There is a famous case involving a husband and wife forging signatures, but in general fraud is quite hard to ascertain.

Keywords: advice scotland

Alison Todd, Director of Policy and Practice, Children 1st; Lindsay Isaacs, Kinship Care Service - National Co-ordinator, Citizens Advice Scotland;

Keywords: advice scotland citizens advice

Citizens Advice Scotland

Keywords: CAB

1 Relative Value: Experiences of Kinship Carers Using the Scottish CAB Service, CAS, 2010;

Keywords: CAB

Kinship carers continue to need the support of the Scottish CAB service, both at a local and a national level. Our experience highlights that advice for kinship carers, particularly that related to benefits and financial issues, remains highly technical. The CAB service is uniquely placed to (a) provide detailed benefits checks; (b) combine this with detailed knowledge of kinship care.

Keywords: citizens advice

Anne Black Mike Callaghan (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) Lindsay Isaacs (Citizens Advice Scotland) Tommy McFall (New Fossils Grandparents Support Group) Robert Swift (Association of Directors of Social Work) Alison Todd (Children 1st)

Keywords: advice scotland citizens advice

Lindsay Isaacs (Citizens Advice Scotland): I am national co-ordinator for the Citizens Advice Scotland kinship care service.

Keywords: advice scotland citizens advice

Anne Black: In many ways, it is even more fundamental than that. The benefits system, as it is set up at the moment, debars some kinship carers from claiming their central Government benefits because they get a particular allowance from a local authority, which might make payments under two or three different headings. Some central Government benefits disregard certain local authority payments, but they take others fully into account. Citizens Advice Scotland works with that situation day and daily.

Keywords: advice scotland citizens advice

What also makes a difference is having a good referral system to Children 1st and Citizens Advice Scotland to ensure that kinship carers can be directed to and signposted towards the support and help that they need. A dedicated kinship care team in the local authority also makes a huge difference, as does the involvement of other departments in the authority.

Keywords: poverty

It will be important that the Scottish Government builds on and delivers these commitments within its infrastructure investment strategy to ensure that it has the maximum impact on inequality and poverty. The commitments to ensure that community benefit clauses are used and training plans are produced, but it will be necessary to go further. We would wish to see an assessment of the socio-economic impact of these investment decisions, with a view to increasing their impact on reducing inequality. A range of Equality Impact Assessment, Social Impact assessment and poverty sensitive decision making tools exist to support a more directed approach to ensuing that large scale investments address inequality. Ensuring that these tools are used when making investment decisions will highlight where we can have a bigger impact on inequality and poverty using existing resources. We have called in the past for a creation of a Scottish Socio-Economic Duty. Such a duty would also encourage public resources to be used in ways that reduced, or at least did not increase inequality.

Keywords: poverty

Previous experience of poverty Increases

Keywords: poverty

While Figure 15 shows the disparity of earnings, which is the main driver of inequality, the analysis of poverty relies more on total net income from all sources and focuses on households, from which most spending decisions are made, rather than individuals. This means that one takes account of benefits and taxes, which reduce income inequality. Note that the Scottish Government provides a regular update of poverty statistics13.

Keywords: poverty

Your point about people being in in-work poverty is true of rural areas. Apart from anything else, if we measure poverty solely on income, we are not measuring what would give someone a decent life in the area in which they live. The cost of living is significantly higher in rural areas. Some indicators are measures of deprivation in an urban context, such as the fact that someone does not have a car because they are poor; however, in rural areas, some people are poor because they need a car and must pay the costs of owning one. When reading measures we must be sensitive to the contexts in which people are living.

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