Subordinate Legislation Committee, 02 Nov 1999

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 2, 1999

Official Report 83KB pdf

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Plant Health (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Order 1999 (SSI 1999/129)

I understand that our legal advisers have had previous experience of this order. We have raised the question of consolidation in amendments before. Do we want to inquire whether consolidation is to be considered?

We should. Also, would it be worth while to ask the Executive if it has a timetable or if it plans to revise the principal order, which, according to paragraph 14 of the legal adviser's notes, is pretty messy?

It seems that the principal order, the Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1993, is described in the notes as

"one of the worst pieces of legislation on the statute book . . . badly drafted, opaque, riddled with inconsistencies"

and notes that it is often impossible to operate the order sensibly. That is not a vote of confidence and the Executive should take the advice of the legal adviser seriously.

We will follow the recommendation of Fergus and Trish and draw that to the attention of the Executive.