Rural Affairs and Environment Committee
Meeting date: Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Official Report
624KB pdf
Subordinate Legislation
Products of Animal Origin (Third Country Imports) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2010 (SSI 2010/225)
Solvent Emissions (Scotland) Regulations 2010 (SSI 2010/236)
I welcome everyone to the committee’s 18th meeting of the year and ask all of you to turn off your mobile phones and BlackBerrys, as they impact on the broadcasting system.
It is great to see such a big turnout. As someone on the committee wisecracked, if you have come for the Solway Rhythm Aces, you are a bit early. Perhaps you can think of us as a warm-up act.
Our principal business this afternoon is to continue the committee’s scrutiny of the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill—or the WANE bill, as it is often referred to. We are the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Environment Committee, a cross-party parliamentary committee that scrutinises the Scottish Government’s policies and proposals in the areas of rural affairs and the environment.
Our job with this piece of proposed legislation is to scrutinise in a robust and thorough way the Government’s proposal, to ensure that in our view it is fit for purpose. The committee believes that it is important to get out and about and to engage with people who could be directly affected by changes such as those proposed in the WANE bill and, as such, we are delighted to be in Langholm today. The committee spent a very productive morning at a demonstration project on Langholm moor and I thank all those who made that extremely informative visit possible.
This afternoon, the committee will take evidence from a variety of organisations with views on the bill at what is known as stage 1 of the bill process. This particular stage will continue back in Edinburgh at future meetings over the next couple of months before the committee produces a report to Parliament containing our views on what are known as the bill’s general principles—in other words, the fundamental thrust of what the bill seeks to achieve—and most likely making a recommendation to Parliament on whether the committee supports those principles and whether the bill should proceed to the next stage. The whole Parliament then votes on whether the bill should proceed.
If the bill is allowed to proceed, it goes on to stage 2, at which all MSPs have the opportunity to suggest amendments to the bill to try to improve it. The amendments are often suggested by organisations and members of the public like yourselves who have extensive interest in and knowledge of the matters at hand. After the committee votes on all the suggested amendments, the bill passes to its final stage, known as stage 3. At stage 3, all MSPs and indeed the Government are able to suggest further amendments, which are voted on by the whole Parliament before the final vote to pass the bill. If successful, the bill then becomes an act—in other words, the law.
To support the process of engagement, after our first panel of witnesses some members of the audience will have an opportunity to state their views on what they have heard so far and the bill’s contents. Anyone who wishes to do that should let James Drummond know and we can work out how many people wish to take part in the open-mic session. I stress, though, that the session will not be an opportunity to ask committee members questions, because that would take all day; it simply gives you a chance to state your thoughts on the bill and any improvements that might be made to it.
Before we get to our main business, we have two negative Scottish statutory instruments to consider. The Subordinate Legislation Committee has made no comment on the instruments and no member has raised any concerns or lodged any motions to annul. Given that, do members agree not to make any recommendations with regard to the two instruments?
Members indicated agreement.