1. At its meeting on 25 February 2020, the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the following instrument subject to the negative procedure and agreed to draw it to the attention of the lead committee:

   • Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/25)

2. The Committee's conclusions in relation to this instrument are set out later in the report.

Other instruments considered

3. The Committee determined that it did not need to draw the Parliament's attention to the instruments set out by the relevant lead committee at the end of this Report.

Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/25)

Purpose

4. This instrument makes provision to annually uprate various allowances, premiums and deductions in the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2012, known as the “Working Age Regulations”, and the Council Tax Reduction (State Pension Credit) (Scotland) Regulations 2012, known as the “Pension Age Regulations”. These are referred to together as the Principal Regulations.

Committee Consideration

5. Regulations 3 and 4 of this instrument incorrectly refer to regulation 23A of the Working Age Regulations. Instead they should refer to regulation 22A of those regulations.

7. The Scottish Government acknowledged this error and stated its intention to correct it when the Working Age Regulations are next amended.

8. While the Committee generally welcomes such commitments from the Scottish Government to correct errors in legislation, it was somewhat concerned by this in these circumstances.

9. The Committee has previously called on the Scottish Government to amend the Principal Regulations, which have now been amended 19 times. Future plans to amend this instrument further would seem to indicate that a consolidation exercise is not anticipated. The Committee has written to the Scottish Government seeking further information on this (see Annex).

Social Security Committee

Funeral Expense Assistance and Young Carer Grants (Up-rating) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/draft)

Carer’s Allowance Up-rating (Scotland) Order 2020 (SSI 2020/draft)

Social Security (Advocacy Service Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/draft)

• A concern was raised about the meaning of “independent” in the context of the Advocacy Service Standards. The Committee brings this concern to the attention of the lead Committee as it may wish to consider what is meant by this term.

Carer’s Allowance Up-rating (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/32)

Justice Committee

First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of Parking Adjudicators) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/draft)

First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of Bus Lane Adjudicators) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/draft)

First-tier Tribunal for Scotland General Regulatory Chamber Parking and Bus Lane Appeals (Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/draft)

First-tier Tribunal for Scotland General Regulatory Chamber Parking and Bus Lane Cases and Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Composition) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/draft)

Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (Judicial Members) Amendment Order 2020 (SSI 2020/draft)

Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (Procedure for Appointment of Members) Amendment Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/draft)

Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018 (Success Fee Agreements) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/draft)

Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/23 (C.2))

Act of Adjournal (Criminal Procedure Rules 1996 Amendment) (Miscellaneous) 2020 (SSI 2020/27)

Act of Sederunt (Rules of the Court of Session 1994, Sheriff Appeal Court Rules and Sheriff Court Rules Amendment) (Reporting Restrictions) 2020 (SSI 2020/28)

Parliament

Local Government Finance (Scotland) Order 2020 (SSI 2020/draft)

Documents Laid for Consultation

Proposed Draft Order - UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Act 2020 Remedial Order 2020 (SG/2020/18)

Proposed Draft Order - UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Act 2020 Remedial Order 2020: Statement of Reasons (SG/2020/19)

Letter to the Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans dated 25 February 2020

Dear Minister,

I write in relation to the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee’s recent consideration of the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/25).

The Committee notes the Scottish Government’s intention to correct the error that was identified in these regulations the next time the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (the “Working Age Regulations”) are updated. However, the Committee also notes that these regulations, alongside the Council Tax Reduction (State Pension Credit) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (the “Pension Age Regulations”), together known as the “Principal Regulations”, have already been updated numerous times.

The Committee has previously called on the Scottish Government to consolidate the Principal Regulations. It is concerned that the intention to update the Working Age Regulations further in order to correct the error identified in SSI 2020/25 suggests that a consolidation exercise is not anticipated.

The Committee would be grateful for an update on when consolidating instruments might be expected in relation to the Principal Regulations.

Yours sincerely,

Graham

Convener of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee