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Agenda item 7 is for the committee to consider the Scottish Government’s response to its stage 1 report on the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Bill. Do members have any comments?
We should welcome the Government’s response. In the bill as introduced, it was certainly not clear that the processes that the committee had to consider related to the way in which one might have imagined that funeral directors go about their business. Their business is most certainly not wholly conducted in a single premises. Often it is conducted in the premises of others, including the premises of the bereaved. We should properly welcome the response and pat ourselves and our legal advisers gently on the back for effecting this proposed set of changes.
I agree. It will be much better to license the business rather than the premises.
A concern remains that the whole licensing regime is subject to provisions that are in regulations rather than on the face of the bill. One might have expected the bulk of the regime to be in the bill, with a bit of room for tweaking around the edges. Perhaps in the debate we can make that point, as well as offer congratulations on the changes that will be made.
I agree with my colleagues—their responses are perhaps a little more predictable than mine. Without taking any particular side, I welcome the fact that the Government has proposed radical changes to the bill in many areas, which are not just welcome but essential. I congratulate our advisers on their scrutiny and on drawing to the Government’s attention the many weak spots. I welcome the Government’s intention to improve hugely on the bill as introduced.
Is the committee content to note the response and to consider the powers as amended at stage 2?
Members indicated agreement.