Justice Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Official Report 406KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Criminal Legal Aid (Fixed Payments) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2010 (SSI 2010/237)

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Criminal Legal Aid (Fixed Payments) (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Regulations 2010 (SSI 2010/267)

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Grampian Joint Fire and Rescue Board (Specified Equipment) (Scotland) Order 2010 (SSI 2010/252)

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome everybody to the Justice Committee’s first meeting in the current term and remind everybody to switch off their mobile phones.

We have received apologies from James Kelly, who is not with us because of family illness. We expect Richard Simpson to attend as his substitute, at some stage.

Agenda item 1 is subordinate legislation. There are three negative instruments for consideration today, the first of which is the Criminal Legal Aid (Fixed Payments) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2010, in respect of which I refer members to paper 1. The second instrument is the Criminal Legal Aid (Fixed Payments) (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Regulations 2010, to which paper 2 refers.

The Subordinate Legislation Committee drew SSI 2010/237 to the attention of Parliament on the ground of defective drafting. As noted in the papers, the Scottish Government acknowledged that and has made the corrections by way of SSI 2010/267. SSI 2010/267 breaches the 21-day rule, but the Subordinate Legislation Committee was content with the explanation that was provided for the breach and the swift correction of the error that had been identified in the original amending regulations.

Members have no comments to make. Are members content to note the first two instruments?

Members indicated agreement.

The third instrument is the Grampian Joint Fire and Rescue Board (Specified Equipment) (Scotland) Order 2010, to which paper 3 refers. The Subordinate Legislation Committee did not draw any matters to the attention of Parliament. Do members have any comments to make on the order, or are they content to note it?

I might have had some comments to make on the order, but I understand that the Grampian fire board, which had a number of issues, has now, in effect, complied with the arrangements with which it was asked to comply. Perhaps that raises the question whether the order is necessary any more, but I suppose that it does not matter that much either way, in the circumstances.

I think that it is largely academic and that it is unfortunate that we have reached this stage.

I agree with Robert Brown. As the convener says, the order may be academic, but the position that Grampian fire board took on the firelink communications system was unfortunate. That led the minister to having to go down this path. The matter should have been resolved long before that. The minister had no choice, and I certainly support his actions in forcing the issue so that firelink is available in the Grampian area. I agree with the convener. The order is probably academic now, but given the history of the issue, it is probably wise to agree to its going through.

I agree with my colleagues Robert Brown and Stewart Maxwell. I think that the order is largely academic, but it is better to take a belt-and-braces approach. It is unfortunate that the Government had to lay the order, but I suppose that all’s well that ends well. I hope that that will be the case.

Indeed. Are members content to note the order?

Members indicated agreement.

I suspend the meeting briefly while witnesses take their places for the second agenda item.

10:05 Meeting suspended.

10:05 On resuming—