Official Report 125KB pdf
Instruments Subject <br />to Annulment
Food and Animal Feedingstuffs (Products of Animal Origin from China) (Emergency Control) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 <br />(SSI 2002/300)
No points arise.
Adults with Incapacity (Specified Medical Treatments) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/302)
No points arise.
National Waiting Times Centre Board (Scotland) Order 2002 (SSI 2002/305)
There are typos in the order.
But there are no points of substance.
Local Government Pension Scheme (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/311)
This is okay too.
I do not know. In regulation 1 the word "regulations" should commence with a capital letter.
Scottish Secure Tenants (Compensation for Improvements) Regulations 2002 <br />(SSI 2002/312)<br />Scottish Secure Tenancies (Abandoned Property) Order 2002 (SSI 2002/313)
Scottish Secure Tenancies (Exceptions) Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/314)<br />Short Scottish Secure Tenancies (Notices) Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/315)
Scottish Secure Tenants (Right to Repair) Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/316)<br />Housing (Right to Buy) (Houses Liable to Demolition) (Scotland) Order 2002 <br />(SSI 2002/317)
Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 (Scottish Secure Tenancy etc) Order 2002 <br />(SSI 2002/318)<br />Short Scottish Secure Tenancies (Proceedings for Possession) Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/319)
Scottish Secure Tenancies (Proceedings for Possession) Regulations 2002 <br />(SSI 2002/320)
Now we are on to the nitty-gritty. There is a host of instruments in this clutch and a number of questions of vires. Regulations might have been drafted the wrong way round. The intention might be okay and, at the end of the day, the regulations might be all right, but the drafting is not particularly good. Once again I suggest that we use the same procedure that we used earlier and ask the Executive for its comments on the instruments that we are concerned about.
If we put our concerns in writing and we are not satisfied, or the legal advisers feel that there is still ground to go over, we could ask witnesses to come to a later meeting.
The Scottish Secure Tenants (Right to Repair) Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/316), for example, is a legal document. In the middle of it, the words "short Scottish secure tenancy" suddenly appear, but they do not appear anywhere in the parent act. There are important points to raise. We can wrap them up in a letter to the Executive. Is that agreed?
Environmental Impact Assessment (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/324)
We might want to ask the Executive for clarification on the regulations. Regulation 2(3) requires the insertion of the new regulation 28A. Regulation 28A(8) requires the substitution of the words "section 47" in regulation 16(1), but regulation 16(1) appears to refer to both sections 46 and 47.
That is not very clear. We can ask the Executive to make it clear.
Okay.
Common Agricultural Policy (Wine) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/325)
Here is this week's wee Euro treat. Before anybody gets excited, I point out that Scotland does not provide the growing conditions for wine grapes.
That does not surprise me.
With a bit of global warming, Scotland might provide the conditions in 10 years' time. That is a possibility.
That is some rationale for spending public money on discussing the regulations. The manner in which EC—perhaps that should be EU—provisions have been referred to is somewhat confusing. Some provisions have been described in regulation 2. It would have been more reader friendly to list all the relevant provisions in one schedule. The committee might want to raise that point with the Executive. We can mention it to the Executive, but, to be frank, it does not really concern us all that much. I read the regulations and they would have made members go blind. They are in very small print, which we should perhaps mention as well.
One important point is that regulation 11(2) does not appear to make sense. Whatever else we might say about the regulations, it is important that they should make sense to those who are reading them.
I read the regulations and words seemed to be missing. We can ask the Executive what it meant the regulations to say.
Act of Sederunt (Fees of Solicitors in the Sheriff Court) (Amendment No 3) 2002 <br />(SSI 2002/328)
The instrument breaches the 21-day rule, but we understand why.
Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Scotland) Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/335)
No points arise.
Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Rate of Interest) (Scotland) Order 2002<br />(SSI 2002/336)
The order raises an interesting point about whether it is possible to sub-delegate in the way that it sets out.
You are right, convener. The enabling act states that ministers may prescribe a rate. The order does not prescribe a rate. It states that the rate will be 8 per cent above the rate that the monetary policy committee of the Bank of England sets. That is sub-delegation, which I believe is not permitted under the parent act.
We must point that out to the Executive and ask for an explanation.
Contaminants in Food (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2002<br />(SSI 2002/349)
No points arise on the regulations.
Food and Animal Feedingstuffs <br />(Products of Animal Origin from China) (Emergency Control) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2002 <br />(SSI 2002/356)
The regulations allow the import of
It could be practically anything—aphrodisiacs and so on.
I wondered about it because there is a lot of talk about Chinese medicine and the things that are used in Chinese medicine. However, no other points arise on the regulations.
A9 Trunk Road (Ballinluig) (Temporary 50mph Speed Limit) (Continuation) Order 2002 (SSI 2002/371)
Some members of the committee may think that it would have been helpful if a copy of the instrument to be extended could have been supplied with the order. I do not drive, so it would not have done me much good anyway. No other points arise on the order.
Sports Grounds and Sporting Events (Designation) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2002 (SSI 2002/382)
The order is interesting. Why does Harlaw Park, Inverurie need to be upgraded to the sort of ground where people are not allowed to take in their cairrie-oot? Is it because the Highland league teams are going to play there?
Maybe there have been problems at such places.
Problems in Inverurie with drink? I do not think so.
I do not know. It was not an accusation.
Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Fees) (Scotland) Order 2002 (SSI 2002/389)
No points arise on the order.
Births, Deaths, Marriages and Divorces (Fees) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/390)
There is a fairly big jump in the percentage increase, but as it does not amount to much money, we should let it lie. No other points arise.
Education (Disability Strategies) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/391)
The regulations raise several questions that we might want to take up with the Executive.
Under the Education (Disability Strategies and Pupils' Educational Records) (Scotland) Act 2002, the period of an accessibility strategy must be a period prescribed by regulations, but the regulations simply provide for a period of "up to three years". That is imprecise and does not echo the intention of the act. There is a similar point in relation to the start dates of strategies: the dates in the regulations are more nebulous than one would have expected given the wording of the act.
We must tie the Executive down on such things because that relates to the direct provision of service.
We can ask why the Executive has chosen to approach the regulations in that way.
Guidance will be issued with the regulations.
No damage has been done, but the thinking seems flawed.
I draw the committee's attention to regulation 3(h), which is straightforward sub-delegation for which there is no authority in the enabling act. We must raise all those questions with the Executive.