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Chamber and committees

Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Subordinate Legislation Considered by the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee at its meeting on 10 March 2020

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Introduction

  1. At its meeting on 10 March 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:

    • Local Government Pension Scheme (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/31)

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

Other instruments considered

  1. 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.

Instruments Drawn to the Attention of the Lead Committee

Local Government Pension Scheme (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/31)

Purpose

  1. The primary purpose of this instrument is to amend schedule 4 of the Local Government Pension Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2018 to provide that, on the application of an administering authority, the Scottish Ministers may, by direction, substitute a different pension fund maintained by that same administering authority as the appropriate fund for a scheme employer.

  1. The regulations also correct a drafting error in the Local Government Pension Scheme (Increased Pension Entitlement) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2019 that was identified by the Committee in its report dated 21 January 2020.

  1. The Committee welcomes this correction.

Committee Consideration

  1. Regulation 1(1) of this instrument provides that, “subject to paragraph (2)” the Regulations come into force on 31 March 2020. Paragraph (2) provides that “regulation 3 has effect from 1 March 2020”.

  1. The Committee consider that it is insufficiently clear whether the effect of this provision is that the regulation comes into force and has effect on 1 March or whether it comes into force on 31 March but its legal effect is then back-dated to 1 March. The Scottish Government has confirmed that the intention is the latter.

  1. Furthermore, regulation 2(2) inserts new paragraph 2A into schedule 4 of the Local Government Pension Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2018. This provides that the Scottish Ministers may, on the application of an administering authority, substitute a different pension fund maintained by the same administering authority as the appropriate fund for the scheme employer.

  1. The Scottish Government has confirmed that the reference in paragraph 2A to “the appropriate fund” refers to the appropriate fund specified in column 2 of the table in schedule 4. However, at present this column only identifies the authority whose fund is the appropriate fund for a particular employee. The Scottish Government has explained that the intention is to enable a sub-fund to be specified. The Committee consider that the meaning of paragraph 2A could be clearer in expressing the intention to enable a sub-fund to be specified.

  1. The Committee therefore draws this instrument to the attention of the lead committee, the Local Government and Communities Committee, under reporting ground (h) as the meaning of both regulation 1 and regulation 2(2) could be clearer.

  1. The Committee also agreed to write to the Scottish Government about its concerns in relation to this instrument. This letter will be published on the Committee's correspondence page.

No Points Raised

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Representation of the People (Annual Canvass) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/draft)

Finance and Constitution Committee

Scottish Landfill Tax (Standard Rate and Lower Rate) Order 2020 (SSI 2020/65)

Social Security Committee

Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/64)

  • The Committee welcomes that this instrument corrects cross-referencing errors in regulations 3 and 4 of the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2020, as reported by the Committee at its meeting on 25 February 2020.

Parliament

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