Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Official Report 578KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Food (Scotland) Act 2015 (Compliance Notices) Amendment Regulations 2023 (SSI 2023/161)

Our next item is consideration of two negative instruments.

The first is the Food (Scotland) Act 2015 (Compliance Notices) Amendment Regulations 2023. The purpose of the regulations is to correct an error in the Food (Scotland) Act 2015 (Compliance Notices) Regulations 2023, specifically to substitute an incorrect reference to regulation 6(2) of the Novel Foods (Scotland) Regulations 2017 with a reference to regulation 4 of those regulations.

The policy note states that the correction

“will allow Authorised Officers (AOs) to use compliance notices to deal with breaches of the requirements in the Novel Foods (Scotland) Regulations 2017.”

The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the instrument at its meeting on 21 November 2023 and made no recommendations in relation to it. No motion to annul has been lodged.

Do members have any comments?

I do not have an issue with the substance of the legislation; it is more of a comment on process. Perhaps we could ask the clerks to do some background work on it. Clearly, the issue has arisen because there was an error in the drafting of the legislation. I am interested in getting more background information on how often that happens and on the process improvements that are looked at in order to reduce it. What is the process for finding such errors—how was this one found?—and what is the risk of them not being found in legislation that has already been considered? I would be grateful for any data that the clerks can pull together on that.

I propose that the committee does not make any recommendation in relation to the negative instrument.

Members indicated agreement.

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Feed Additives (Authorisations) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 [Draft]

The second instrument for the committee to consider is the Feed Additives (Authorisations) (Scotland) Regulations 2023. The purpose of the instrument is to implement the decision made by the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health on 13 feed additive applications. It authorises the placing on the market and use in Scotland of 10 new feed additives, renews two authorisations with modifications and renews, modifies and authorises a new use for one other additive. The instrument also includes a transitional provision concerning an existing authorisation for one feed additive, which is renewed subject to a modification by the instrument.

The policy note states that the instrument

“aligns Scotland with England and Wales and with similar EU legislation for these feed additives.”

It also states that Foods Standards Scotland and the Food Standards Agency have concluded that the feed additives

“as described in the applications are safe for the target species, users, consumers and the environment.”

The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the regulations at its meeting on 21 November 2023 and made no recommendations. No motion to annul has been lodged.

As there are no further comments, I propose that the committee does not make any recommendation in relation to the negative instrument.

Members indicated agreement.

At our next meeting, we will continue our inquiry into healthcare in remote and rural areas, hearing from a panel of representatives of healthcare professionals operating in remote and rural areas. That concludes the public part of our meeting.

10:51 Meeting continued in private until 11:29.