Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Official Report 316KB pdf

Instruments subject to Negative Procedure

Foods for Specific Groups (Scotland) Regulations 2016 (SSI 2016/190)

Our first instrument for consideration under agenda item 3 is SSI 2016/190. The regulations omit to make further consequential amendments to the Foods Intended for Use in Energy Restricted Diets for Weight Reduction Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/2182) that are required as a result of the changes to the 1997 regulations that regulation 6 introduces.

Regulation 6 amends the definition of “relevant food” in the 1997 regulations by deleting the reference to food that replaces

“one or more meals of the daily diet”.

The effect of that change is that partial diet-replacement weight-loss products—as opposed to total diet-replacement weight-loss products—will no longer be classed as “relevant food” and will no longer fall within the ambit of the 1997 regulations. Only total diet-replacement products will now fall within the ambit of the 1997 regulations as “relevant food”.

Regulations 2 and 3 of the 1997 regulations make further references to partial diet-replacement products that, following the amendment that regulation 6 makes to the definition of “relevant food”, have no legal meaning or effect. The regulations omit to make the further consequential amendments to the 1997 regulations that are required to remove those further references. That has led to a lack of clarity in the 1997 regulations as amended, in that redundant text has been left on the statute book that should have been removed.

The Scottish Government accepts that the amendment that regulation 6 makes has not led to sufficient clarity in the 1997 regulations and has undertaken to further amend the 1997 regulations at the earliest available opportunity.

Do members have comments?

Could the committee welcome the Government’s commitment to amend the regulations and ensure that we track the implementation of that commitment?

Yes, that is absolutely fine.

Does the committee agree to draw the regulations to the attention of the Parliament under the general reporting ground in relation to the omission of consequential amendments to the 1997 regulations?

Members indicated agreement.

National Health Service (Free Prescriptions and Charges for Drugs and Appliances) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2016 (SSI 2016/195)

No points have been raised by our legal advisers on the instrument. Is the committee content with it?

Members indicated agreement.