§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Scotland in his official capacity, how many estates he has in the crofting counties; how many crofts he owns; how many crofting families work these crofts; and how many schemes have been submitted to him as landowner by crofters in the last five years for the development of part of their crofts for commercial recreational purposes connected with the tourist industry.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellThere are 67 smallholding estates in the crofting counties in the ownership of the Secretary of State and on these there are 1,698 crofts. The number of crofting families cannot be given precisely but would not be much less than the number of crofts. A crofter is not obliged to submit to his landlord proposals for use of a part of his croft for non-agricultural development as a subsidiary occupation. I am aware, however, that tenants do on occasion operate caravan sites.