Justice Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Official Report 497KB pdf

Subordinate Legislation

Parole Board (Scotland) Amendment Rules 2021 (SSI 2021/4)

Fireworks (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/14)

Item 2 on our agenda is consideration of two negative Scottish statutory instruments: the Parole Board (Scotland) Amendment Rules 2021 (SSI 2021/4) and the Fireworks (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/14).

Before we consider the instruments, I point out to members the correspondence that we received about the second one—on fireworks. We have received a letter from the Minister for Community Safety, which says that there has been an unintended error in the drafting of the regulations and that she intends to revoke them and to introduce a new instrument later this week. I thank Ash Denham for her letter, which explains the matter to us.

Secondly, the British Fireworks Association has sent us two letters that raise objections to that instrument, in which it says that

“the industry has not been consulted with details of the proposed legislation (in accordance with the requirements of the Fireworks Act 2003) and the industry does not agree with the contents of the business and regulatory impact assessments.”

I suggest that we state for the record that the committee makes no formal recommendation on the Fireworks (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021, on the basis that the Government has made a commitment to revoke them. I also suggest that we ask the Minister for Community Safety to respond to the concerns that the correspondence from the British Fireworks Association drew to our attention, to make clear in her view whether the association was consulted and, if not, why not.

It might also help if the minister could make clear why the association believes that the business and regulatory impact assessment seems to indicate that it is in favour of the instrument when it seems from its correspondence that it is not. Finally, it might help if the minister could address the policy points that the British Fireworks Association raised in its correspondence to us.

Are members content to proceed on that basis? I see that members are content. I am grateful for that. Thank you very much.

Do members have any comments on the Parole Board (Scotland) Amendment Rules—the other SSI that is in front of us?

No member has indicated that they have any comments, so that concludes consideration of the SSIs and our meeting today.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 23 February, when we will start, and hope to complete, stage 2 consideration of the Domestic Abuse Protection (Scotland) Bill.