Advice and Assistance (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2004<br />(SSI 2004/49)<br />Civil Legal Aid (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2004 (SSI 2004/50)
Criminal Legal Aid (Fixed Payments) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2004 (SSI 2004/51)
The next item on the agenda is subordinate legislation. First, the committee must consider three sets of regulations that are subject to the negative procedure. Members have received the papers; are there any comments on the instruments?
We should agree the lot, convener.
That is a very instructive direction. Does the committee "agree the lot"?
Members indicated agreement.
The next pieces of delegated legislation that we have to consider are subject to the affirmative procedure. I am informed that the minister has not yet arrived, but I think that his officials are here. I suggest that we suspend the meeting briefly until he is able to join us.
Meeting suspended.
On resuming—
Advice and Assistance (Financial Conditions) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (draft)<br />Civil Legal Aid (Financial Conditions) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (draft)
I reconvene the meeting and, on behalf of members, welcome the Deputy Minister for Justice, Hugh Henry, along with his colleagues from the Justice Department. I am grateful to you for making time to come before us. You are here in respect of the two affirmative draft statutory instruments to which I referred before we adjourned. Technically, you are here to move the motions, both of which are in the name of Cathy Jamieson, but I am happy to invite you to speak to them as well.
Thank you, convener. I will speak briefly. There are four regulations in the package, of which two are negative instruments and two are affirmative. The draft Advice and Assistance (Financial Conditions) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 update the financial—
To assist you, minister, I point out that we have fired ahead and dealt with the negative instruments.
Oh, right. If you want, you can tell me that you have dealt with the other ones as well. However, essentially, we are uprating in line with the acceptable indices. The affirmative instruments have the effect of bringing in the necessary increases. I will leave it at that, convener.
I am very grateful to you. Do members have any questions about the regulations? A stereophonic whisper is coming into my left ear from the clerk, telling me that, for reasons of propriety, I should ask you to move the motions.
Motions moved,
That the Justice 2 Committee recommends that the draft Advice and Assistance (Financial Conditions) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 be approved.
That the Justice 2 Committee recommends that the draft Civil Legal Aid (Financial Conditions) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 be approved.—[Hugh Henry.]
Motions agreed to.
Minister, as ever, that was a pleasant but only too brief interlude. Thank you for attending.
It is with a certain degree of heartache that I leave you so soon.
Before closing the meeting, I remind members that stage 3 of the Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Bill is set down for Thursday morning. No doubt members will wish to be in attendance. Our next meeting on Tuesday of next week will, of course, be given over to evidence taking on the Constitutional Reform Bill. I thank members for attending.
Meeting closed at 15:31.