Call for written evidence on Legislative Consent Memorandum on the Criminal Finances Bill
The Scottish Government lodged a Legislative Consent Memorandum (LCM) on 22 November 2016 for the Criminal Finances Bill.
The LCM explains why the Scottish Government would like the Scottish Parliament to give consent to the Westminster Parliament to legislate in certain areas and to make changes to the powers of the Scottish Ministers in relation to competence.
The Justice Committee must report on the LCM to the Parliament and would very much like to hear the views of experts and stakeholders on the proposed legislation, to inform Parliamentary scrutiny.
The LCM
The parts of the Bill which require the consent of the Scottish Parliament and the reasons for requiring consent are set out below.
Part 1 amends the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) to make provision in relation to investigations, money laundering, civil recovery, enforcement powers and related offences, confiscation, as well as other miscellaneous matters. Provisions in Part 1 require the consent of the Scottish Parliament as they are within the Scottish Parliament’s legislative competence and they also seek to alter the Scottish Ministers’ executive competence.
Part 2 ensures that relevant money laundering and asset recovery powers under POCA will be extended to apply to investigations under the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT), and amends the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 to provide for forfeiture of specific types of terrorist property. The Scottish Parliament’s consent is required because the Bill will confer new functions on the Scottish Ministers so as to alter their executive competence.
Part 4 includes minor and consequential amendments to POCA and other enactments and requires the Scottish Parliament’s consent because they confer functions on the Scottish Ministers so as to alter their executive competence.
More detail on the reasons for requiring legislative consent is set out in the LCM itself.
Call for evidence
The Committee would like to hear the views of stakeholders on the LCM. It would be helpful if comments could be broken down by reference to each Part of the Criminal Finances Bill in respect of which the Scottish Parliament’s consent is considered necessary. The Committee does not expect stakeholders to necessarily have comments on all parts of the LCM.
The Committee would like to receive views on both:
· The devolved areas in which the UK Government proposes to legislate
· The extent to which the executive competence of the Scottish Ministers will be altered either by the conferring of additional powers or the limitation of their existing powers.
The deadline for submissions is 5.00pm on Tuesday 10 January 2017.
Procedure
The Parliamentary Business Bureau assigned the LCM to the Justice Committee on 29 November 2016. The Committee will consider the LCM and report to Parliament, which will then vote upon a legislative consent motion on whether to agree to the Westminster Parliament legislating on its behalf. The Scottish Parliament must vote on the motion before the last amending stage of the Bill at Westminster.
More information on the LCM procedure can be found here:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/Bills/31308.aspx
How to submit your evidence
Written submissions should be in MS Word or similar word processing format, and should be no longer than 4 sides of A4. If your submission is longer than this, please provide a short summary of the main points. Submissions should be set out in numbered paragraphs. If a submission refers to existing published material, it is preferable to provide hyperlinks rather than extensive extracts.
Before making a submission, please read the Parliament’s policy on treatment of written evidence by subject and mandatory committees.
If possible, written submissions should be submitted electronically by email to:
[email protected]
Hard copy written submissions should be sent to:
Justice Committee Clerks
Room T2.60
Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP
Contact
Any queries about written submissions should be addressed in the first instance to the Justice Committee clerking team at the above email address or on 0131 348 5047.