Subordinate Legislation Committee, 07 Oct 2003

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 7, 2003

Official Report 88KB pdf

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Instruments Not Laid Before the Parliament

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Instruments Not Laid Before <br />the Parliament

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Act of Adjournal (Criminal Procedure Rules Amendment No 2) (Miscellaneous) 2003 (SSI 2003/468)

We come to item 5. We have a letter relating to the act of adjournal from the private office of the Lord President. The first issue was whether ministers had been consulted. There was a further issue in relation to the enabling power, in particular section 305(3) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.

We are reliably informed that ministers had, in fact, been consulted. Bruce Beveridge, legal secretary to the Lord President, argues that section 305(3) of the 1995 act does not apply in this instance. I gather that the matter can be argued either way, but the legal adviser is content that the main issue was one of ministers' being consulted. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

There are also a couple of minor drafting errors in the act of adjournal that we can mention in our informal letter—which is gathering momentum.

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Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 (Commencement No 3 and Revocation) Order 2003 (SSI 2003/475)

I am not aware of any particular points on the order.

The Executive has agreed to include an italicised headnote to say that the new order, which replaces the previous commencement order, which contained an error, will be available free of charge.

On this occasion, there was some liaison between our legal adviser and the relevant people in the Executive, so the matter was dealt with quite quickly. That is to be encouraged.

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Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (Commencement No 2) Order 2003 (SSI 2003/477)

No points have been identified on the order. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

I thank you for your attendance and I wish you a nice recess.

Meeting closed at 10:49.