Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Meeting date: Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Official Report 390KB pdf
Contents
- Attendance
- Interests
- Decision on Taking Business in Private
- Instruments subject to Affirmative Procedure
- Instruments subject to Negative Procedure
- Instruments not subject to Parliamentary Procedure
Instruments subject to Negative Procedure
National Health Service Superannuation Scheme (Scotland) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No 2) Regulations 2017 (SSI 2017/434)
Item 4 is consideration of instruments subject to negative procedure.
Regulation 7 provides that the National Health Service Superannuation Scheme (2008 Section) (Scotland) Regulations 2013, SSI 2013/174, are amended in accordance with regulations 8 to 18. However, of those regulations, only regulations 9, 13, 16 and 18 have effect from 1 April 2015, in accordance with the remainder of regulation 1(2)(a). The Scottish Government proposes to correct regulation 1(2)(a) in the next set of regulations that amend SSI 2013/174.
Does the committee agree to draw the regulations to the attention of Parliament on reporting ground (i), as the drafting of regulation 1(2)(a) appears to be defective, in providing that regulation 7 has effect from 1 April 2015 and it is not intended that regulation 7 should have that retrospective effect?
Members indicated agreement.
Does the committee agree to recommend that the error is corrected by amendment as soon as possible, given that the error concerns the date when provisions of the instrument have effect?
Members indicated agreement.
Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2017 (SSI 2017/451)
The regulations were laid before Parliament on 15 December and came into force on 18 December 2017. That does not respect the requirement that at least 28 days should elapse between the laying of an instrument that is subject to negative procedure and the coming into force of that instrument. Accordingly, does the committee agree to draw the regulations to the attention of Parliament on reporting ground (j) as they fail to comply with the requirements of section 28(2) of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010?
Members indicated agreement.
Does the committee also agree to find the failure to comply with section 28 to be acceptable in the circumstances as outlined in the correspondence from the Government contained within our papers?
Members indicated agreement.
National Health Service Pension Scheme (Scotland) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No 2) Regulations 2017 (SSI 2017/433)
No points have been raised by our legal advisers in relation to this instrument. However, the committee might wish to note that the Government has submitted a revised version of the statutory report required under section 22(2)(b) of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013. That is to correct an error in the original report, to make it clear that the revised employee contribution tables inserted into regulations 30 and 31 of the National Health Service Pension Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2015 by regulations 3 and 4 of the instrument come into force on 31 January 2018 and are applied to the 2018-19 scheme year.
Does the committee note the laying of the revised statutory report?
Members indicated agreement.
Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (Amendment and Transitional Provision) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 (SSI 2017/435)
Universal Credit (Claims and Payments) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2017 (SSI 2017/436)
Sea Fish (Prohibited Methods of Fishing) (Firth of Clyde) Order 2017 (SSI 2017/450)
Teachers’ Pension Scheme (Scotland) (No 2) Amendment Regulations 2017 (SSI 2017/454)
Specified Crustaceans (Prohibition on Landing, Sale and Carriage) (Scotland) Order 2017 (SSI 2017/455)
Allotments (Compensation) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 (SSI 2017/457)
Forced Marriage etc (Protection and Jurisdiction) (Scotland) Act 2011 (Relevant Third Party) Order 2017 (SSI 2017/461)
No points have been raised by our legal advisers on the instruments. Is the committee content?
Members indicated agreement.