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Chamber and committees

Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Instruments considered by the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee during the first quarter of the Parliamentary Year 2024-25

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Summary

  1. This reporting period covers 13 May to 15 September 2024.

  1. The Committee considered 42 instruments and 1 Document subject to parliamentary control.

  1. There were 6 instruments reported by the Committee.

  1. One instrument engaged the more serious reporting grounds, which is the Valuation (Proposals Procedure) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2024 (SSI 2024/186).

  1. During this period, the Committee considered the delegated powers in 5 Bills at Stage 1 and 5 Bills after Stage 2.

  1. The Committee considered 2 Legislative Consent Memorandums (LCMs). At the dissolution of the 2019-24 UK Parliament, the Bills these related to fell on 30 May 2024. As such, in line with other Scottish Parliament committees, the Committee agreed therefore to take no further action.

Introduction

  1. The purpose of this report is to provide a record of the Committee’s scrutiny of instruments e.g., Scottish Statutory Instruments (SSIs) and UK Statutory Instruments (SIs) subject to joint procedure in the Scottish Parliament during the first quarter of the parliamentary year in 2024-25, covering the period 13 May to 15 September 2024.

  1. This report—

    • sets out details of instruments considered by the Committee which were drawn to the attention of the Parliament during the reporting period on one or more of the reporting grounds set out in Standing Orders;

    • touches briefly on the commitments made by the Scottish Government and the Lord President’s Private Office (LPPO) in response to the Committee’s comments and details any action that has been taken; and

    • outlines the Committee’s activity in respect of other matters within its remit.

  1. As with previous quarterly reports, this report is intended to be more statistical than analytical to help inform the Committee’s annual report which goes into more detail on the work carried out by the Committee during the parliamentary year. However, the statistics can still be used to highlight emerging themes in advance of the annual report.

Overview and analysis

  1. During the reporting period 13 May to 15 September 2024, a total of 42i instruments (including 6 laid by the LPPO) and 1 Document subject to parliamentary control were considered by the Committee.

  1. The 36 SSIs laid by the Scottish Government are broken down as follows—

    • 14 affirmative instruments.

    • 15 negative instruments.

    • 7 laid only instruments.

  1. There was also 1 Document subject to parliamentary control laid by the Scottish Government.

  1. The LPPO laid 6 instruments, all laid only.

  1. The infographic below provides a breakdown of instruments laid by the Scottish Government and the LPPO as well as the total instruments drawn to the Parliament’s attention—

  1. There were 6 instruments reported by the Committee, which equates to 14% of the instruments drawn to the Parliament's attention.

Reporting grounds

  1. Under paragraph (a) of Rule 6.11 of Standing Orders, the Committee may determine that the attention of the Parliament should be drawn to an SSI on one or more of a range of technical and legal grounds. These grounds are set out in Rule 10.3.1 of the Standing Orders.

Reporting grounds: significant

  1. The Committee considers some reporting grounds to be of more significance than others. The Committee has therefore determined that it has concerns where an instrument is drawn to the attention of the Parliament on one of the following grounds:

    • ground (e) – there appears to be a doubt whether it is intra vires;

    • ground (f) – raises a devolution issue; and

    • ground (i) – drafting appears to be defective.

  1. These reporting grounds are referred to as the significant reporting grounds. The Committee considers every report under one of these grounds to be a serious matter as these raise fundamental legal questions and so there is the potential for the validity of the instrument to be questioned.

  1. The infographic below provides a breakdown of the number of instruments reported on by the relevant reporting ground. A detailed list of the instruments reported on can be found at Annexe A —

Withdrawal of instruments

  1. Instruments can be withdrawn and re-laid after questions about an instrument are raised by the Committee with the Scottish Government, to, for example, correct an identified drafting error.

  1. One instrument was withdrawn and re-laid during this reporting period:

    • The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Amendment Order 2024 (SSI 2024/Draft) was withdrawn on 30 May 2024 and re-laid on 31 May 2024.

Instruments referred to Lead Committees

  1. The infographic below provides a breakdown of instruments referred to, and reported on, by lead committees

Commitments

Scottish Government

  1. The Scottish Government laid 1 amending instrument, the Tied Pubs (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 (SSI 2024/Draft), to correct errors in two draft instruments:

    • the Scottish Pubs Code Regulations 2024 (SSI 2024/Draft); and

    • the Tied Pubs (Fees and Financial Penalties) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 (SSI 2024/Draft).

  1. A list of all outstanding commitments can be found at Annexe B.

Minor Points

  1. The Committee identified a total of 12 instruments on which minor points were raised (generally relating to minor typographical matters, and which do not affect the operation of the instrument). Of these, 10 were in Scottish Government instruments and 2 in LPPO instruments.

Bills

  1. During the reporting period, the Committee considered the delegated powers in 5 Bills at Stage 1—

    • Housing (Scotland) Bill

    • Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill

    • Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill

    • Education (Scotland) Bill (the bill was considered on 10 September and the Committee published it report on 1 October 2024).

    • Land Reform (Scotland) Bill (the bill was considered on 18 June, 17 September, and 29 October 2024). It is scheduled to be considered again on 26 November.

  1. As the lead committee, the Committee published its Stage 1 Report on the Judicial Factors (Scotland) Bill.

  1. The Committee published 5 reports on the delegated powers in the following bills after Stage 2—

    • Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill

    • Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill

    • Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill

    • Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill

    • Aggregates Tax and Devolved Taxes Administration (Scotland) Bill

Legislative Consent Memorandums (LCMs)

  1. The Committee considered powers to make subordinate legislation within devolved competence in 2 LCMs—

    • Renters (Reform) Bill

    • Tobacco and Vapes Bill

  1. At the dissolution of the 2019-24 UK Parliament, both Bills fell on 30 May 2024. The Committee, in line with other Scottish Parliament committees, therefore agreed to take no further action.

Annex A – Reporting grounds: 13 May to 15 September 2024

As set out in the Committee's remit, the Committee may determine that the attention of the Parliament should be drawn to an instrument. It may do so on a number of reporting grounds (and one instrument may engage one or more of those grounds). The reporting grounds engaged in this quarter are set out below:

General

(h) – meaning could be clearer

(i) – drafting appears to be defective

(j) - failure to comply with laying requirements

Annex B – Historic Commitments

Commitments made by the Scottish Government

Commitment from 2019

Commitments from 2023

Commitments from 2024

Commitments made by the LPPO

Commitment from 2024