Contents
- Attendance
- Subordinate Legislation
- Investigatory Powers Bill
- Petitions
Subordinate Legislation
First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Private Rented Housing Panel) Regulations 2016 [Draft]
First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Homeowner Housing Panel) Regulations 2016 [Draft]
First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber and Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Composition) Regulations 2016 [Draft]
Scottish Tribunals (Offences in Relation to Proceedings) Regulations 2016 [Draft]
First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Chambers) Regulations 2016 [Draft]
First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Homeowner Housing Committees) Regulations 2016 [Draft]
First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Private Rented Housing Committees) Regulations 2016 [Draft]
Good morning and welcome to the fifth meeting of the Justice Committee in 2016.
Agenda item 1 is consideration of seven Scottish statutory instruments that are subject to the affirmative procedure; all relate to implementation of the Scottish tribunals system. It is my pleasure to welcome to the committee Annabelle Ewing, the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs. As this is the minister’s first appearance before the committee, I want on behalf of the committee to congratulate her on her appointment, and to say that we look forward to working with her and her team in the future. I am sure that this will be the first of many appearances before the committee.
With the minister this morning are Sandra Wallace and Hannah Frodsham from the Scottish Government civil law and legal system division, and John St Clair from the Scottish Government directorate for legal services. I remind members that the officials are permitted to give evidence under this item, but may not participate in the formal debate on the instruments under agenda item 2.
I refer members to papers 1 and 3 in the meeting papers and ask the minister whether she wishes to make a short opening statement.
Thank you, convener. It is a pleasure to be here for my first appearance before the committee. I, too, look forward to working with the committee in what I think will be a very busy couple of years for all of us.
Before I start, I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, where members will find that I am a member of the Law Society of Scotland and hold a current practising certificate.
I am pleased to be here to discuss a suite of fairly technical regulations that will set up the initial structure of the Scottish tribunals system, and will transfer in the first of its jurisdictions.
First of all, I will give a brief overview of the instruments that are before the committee today. The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Chambers) Regulations 2016 divide the First-tier Tribunal into what at this stage will be five chambers: the mental health chamber, the housing and property chamber, the health and education chamber, the general regulatory chamber and the tax chamber. Separation of the first tier into chambers will protect the specialist knowledge and expertise of the separate jurisdictions.
The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber and Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Composition) Regulations 2016 specify the type of member who will hear cases in the housing and property chamber, and the composition, which will mirror the existing composition of the two housing jurisdictions that will transfer into the Scottish tribunals structure in December. The draft regulations also set out the composition of the Upper Tribunal when hearing appeals from the housing and property chamber, and allow for a sheriff to hear appeals—which, again, mirrors the status quo, as appeals are currently heard in the sheriff court. It will be for the president of tribunals to determine who hears the appeals, and the president may also select herself—Lady Smith is the current president—the chamber president or the Lord President, if that is felt appropriate.
The Scottish Tribunals (Offences in Relation to Proceedings) Regulations 2016 create offences and specify the possible levels of fines and terms of imprisonment for committing an offence in proceedings. The aim is to standardise offences across the First-tier Tribunal: such proceedings currently vary from tribunal to tribunal.
For the sake of brevity, convener, I will summarise together the other four sets of regulations, which are the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Private Rented Housing Panel) Regulations 2016; the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Homeowner Housing Panel) Regulations 2016; the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Homeowner Housing Committees) Regulations 2016; and the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Private Rented Housing Committees) Regulations 2016. They will transfer the functions and members of two housing jurisdictions to the First-tier Tribunal and will amend existing housing legislation to replace the various references to the committees and panels with references to “the First-tier Tribunal”. The current president of tribunals will transfer into the new structure as the president of the housing and property chamber. In addition, the regulations set out the transitional procedures for cases that are in progress on the date of transfer. As the individual panels and committees are listed separately in the Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014, each of the jurisdictions needs to be dealt with by way of separate instruments, hence these four instruments.
That was a brief overview of the regulations. I will be happy to answer members’ questions.
Thank you very much, minister. That was helpful. It seems that there are no questions from members, so would you like to make any closing remarks?
No.
We move straight to agenda item 2, which is formal consideration of the motions on each of the seven affirmative instruments. Each motion will be moved, and there will then be an opportunity for a formal debate on each SSI. In practice, I expect that many of the issues will already have been covered. I shall take each in turn. The first motion is S5M-01516.
Having described briefly the instrument in my previous comments, I shall simply move the motion formally.
I move,
That the Justice Committee recommends that the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Private Rented Housing Panel) Regulations 2016 [draft] be approved.
As there are no questions from members, does the minister wish to make any closing remarks?
No.
The question is, that motion S5M-01516 be agreed to. Are we agreed?
Motion agreed to.
The second motion is S5M-01517. I invite the minister to speak to and move the motion.
I have no further comments.
I move,
That the Justice Committee recommends that the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Homeowner Housing Panel) Regulations 2016 [draft] be approved.
Motion agreed to.
The third motion is S5M-01518. Would you like to make any comments, minister?
I have no further comments.
I move,
That the Justice Committee recommends that the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber and Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Composition) Regulations 2016 [draft] be approved.
Motion agreed to.
The fourth motion is S5M-01519. Do you want to make any remarks, minister?
I have no further comments.
I move,
That Justice Committee recommends that the Scottish Tribunals (Offences in Relation to Proceedings) Regulations 2016 [draft] be approved.
Motion agreed to.
The fifth motion is S5M-01523. I invite the minister to comment.
I have no further comments.
I move,
That the Justice Committee recommends that the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Chambers) Regulations 2016 [draft] be approved.
Motion agreed to.
The sixth motion is S5M-01524. I invite the minister to comment and to move the motion.
I have no further comments.
I move,
That the Justice Committee recommends that the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Homeowner Housing Committees) Regulations 2016 [draft] be approved.
Motion agreed to.
The seventh and final motion under this agenda item is S5M-01525. Minister, would you like to speak to and move the motion?
I have no further comments.
I move,
That the Justice Committee recommends that the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of Private Rented Housing Committees) Regulations 2016 [draft] be approved.
Motion agreed to.
That concludes consideration of the affirmative instruments. The committee’s report will note and confirm the outcome of the debate on all seven SSIs. It remains for me to thank the minister and her officials for their appearance before the committee.
I seek the committee’s agreement to delegate authority to me as convener to clear the final draft report. Are members content with that?
Members indicated agreement.
I suspend the meeting briefly to allow the minister and her officials to leave.
10:10 Meeting suspended.10:11 On resuming—
Scottish Tribunals (Time Limits) Regulations 2016 (SSI 2016/231)
Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2016 (SSI 2016/232)
Agenda item 3 is consideration of two Scottish statutory instruments that are subject to the negative procedure. These instruments also relate to implementation of the new Scottish tribunals. I refer members to paper 2.
Members have no comments, so do we agree that we do not wish to make any recommendation on the instruments?
Members indicated agreement.
I again suspend the meeting briefly to allow the next panel to take their seats.
10:12 Meeting suspended.10:18 On resuming—
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