Police Service of Scotland (Police Cadets) Regulations 2013 (SSI 2013/42)
Paragraph 1 of part 3 of the schedule to the regulations appears to be defectively drafted, in that it refers to the Police (Minimum Age for Appointment) Regulations 2006—a statutory instrument that applies to England and Wales—rather than to the Police (Minimum Age for Appointment) (Scotland) Regulations 2006, as was apparently the Scottish ministers’ intention.
Before you put questions to us, does the Government agree that the regulations are defectively drafted? You said that the relevant part “appears to be defectively drafted”. Do we know whether the Government agrees?
I think that the Government has conceded that the regulations are defectively drafted, in the sense that they refer to the wrong piece of legislation. I think that that is in our briefing. [Interruption.] Our advice is that the Government concedes that an error has been made. The phrase “defectively drafted” is our term rather than the Government’s.
It is just that we are putting on the record that the instrument “appears to be defectively drafted”, whereas the reality is that it is accepted that it has been defectively drafted.
Let us be clear—the reporting ground is that we believe that the instrument is defectively drafted.
Okay. That is fine.
As I understand it, the Government says that it believes that there is an error. It does not have to specify the ground—I think it merely has to acknowledge that there is an error.
So, it has been accepted that there is an error.
Yes.
That is fine.
Does the committee therefore agree to draw the instrument to the attention of Parliament on reporting ground (i), as the drafting appears to be defective?
I draw your attention to the Police Cadets (Scotland) Regulations 1968 (SI 1968/208), under which the cadet corps was established. I understand that there is no new legislation to establish the cadet corps. It represents a lost opportunity not to include that in the current legislation. The cadet corps is a historic service that the police force established and has maintained, and it is a good opportunity for young people to be involved with the police. To lose that opportunity is perhaps a weakness. Perhaps we could point that out.
I thank you for your comments, but that is very much a policy matter. I encourage you to take that to your colleagues on the Justice Committee when it considers the regulations. I understand the point, but I do not think that it has anything to do with the drafting of the regulations.
We are transferring the service from local police forces to a national police force, but we have not considered its continuation in any form. That is an opportunity lost. It might not necessarily just be an issue of policy; it might be that someone somewhere has forgotten that important element.
Forgive me, but even if they have forgotten, it is still a policy issue. It really is. It is certainly not about the technical drafting of the regulations. That issue needs to go to your colleagues on the Justice Committee.
This is an instance of where, had good practice been followed in consolidation, we would not be in the current situation. Obviously, the situation has persisted for some time. It might be worth the committee’s while to note in its annual report that this example adds substance to the arguments that we continually make about the need to consolidate before we get into such situations.
Indeed. The instrument saves and continues in effect the 1968 regulations together with 13 relevant amending instruments—that reinforces Mike MacKenzie’s point. Regulation 2(3) will further modify the 1968 regulations. It is, accordingly, extremely difficult to ascertain the terms and conditions of service of police cadets, because the 1968 regulations have been amended extensively, are not available in amended form—save in an unofficial consolidation that has been prepared by the Scottish ministers—and are not freely available in electronic form even in their original and unamended form. That reinforces Mike MacKenzie’s point that this is a bad example, in that there is a lack of consolidation. The fact that it affects a small number of people is surely not relevant to the principle.
The committee might wish to note the Scottish ministers’ intention to request that the Scottish Police Authority provide a consolidated form of the 1968 regulations to each of the police cadets that are transferring to the police service of Scotland.
National Health Service (Scotland) (Injury Benefits) Amendment Regulations 2013 (SSI 2013/52)
New regulation 18B(1) will delegate power to the Scottish ministers to specify the period within which a claim for injury benefit must be made in order for entitlement to benefit to arise. That will permit specification of a substantive matter other than by subordinate legislation and, therefore, with no scrutiny by Parliament. Although the Superannuation Act 1972 permits the delegation of functions, the committee might consider that it is unusual for substantive requirements to be delegated in that manner. The committee might wish to note that the approach is inconsistent with new regulations 18A(2) and 21A(1), which set out substantive time limits.
The meaning of “injury allowance” in new regulation 4(11) could be clearer; the “NHS terms and conditions of service handbook”, by which the term is defined, is not fully identified by reference to the source of the material, and where copies of it can be consulted.
The handbook to which the Scottish ministers intend to refer did not exist when the regulations were made, nor when they were scrutinised by the committee. It was therefore not possible for the committee to discharge its scrutiny function as it would have wished.
Instead of “that person”, regulation 18B(3) should refer to “the person making the claim”. The Government has undertaken to correct the provision when the principal regulations are next amended. However, it is not clear when that will happen, or indeed whether it will happen at all, given that the effect of the regulations is to close the scheme in respect of injuries sustained or diseases contracted after 31 March 2013.
Does the committee also agree to recommend that the Government consider correcting the error in early course?
Electricity (Applications for Consent) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2013 (SSI 2013/58)
Fees in the Registers of Scotland (Consequential Provisions) Amendment Order 2013 (SSI 2013/59)
Police Service of Scotland (Conduct) Regulations 2013 (SSI 2013/60)
Police Service of Scotland (Senior Officers) (Conduct) Regulations 2013 (SSI 2013/62)
Education (School Lunches) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2013 (SSI 2013/64)