Justice Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Official Report 520KB pdf

Subordinate Legislation

Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Prescribed Police Stations) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2016 (SSI 2016/187)

Air Weapons Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 2016 (SSI 2016/188)

We move swiftly on. The next item is consideration of two negative Scottish statutory instruments. Do members have comments on either instrument?

On the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Prescribed Police Stations) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2016, it would be useful to put on the record that it is noted that the Government will amend the regulations at the first opportunity, and it would be helpful if the Government indicated the date of the first opportunity. I always worry about these technical errors providing a loophole for some potentially quite dangerous people in our society. I do not see any particular reason why there should be much delay.

That is a valid point. We will write to ask what “first opportunity” means.

Are there any other comments?

I have a comment on the Air Weapons Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 2016. I am slightly concerned that there has been no consultation about fees, particularly given the relatively low number of air weapons that have been handed in as part of the amnesty, compared with the figure that was estimated when the legislation was brought forward. I wonder whether any consideration should be given to that.

There are a couple of points there, which we might look at as part of our consideration of the legislative consent motion on the Policing and Crime Bill, especially as it seems that the full price for a licence will be charged at the point of application, as opposed to when the licence is granted.

If members are content that we write to the Government about the date in the first SSI and that we look at the other issues when we discuss the LCM, are we content for the committee to make no recommendation on the instruments?

Members indicated agreement.