Procedures Committee, 07 Nov 2000

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 7, 2000

Official Report 231KB pdf

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Standing Orders

We move to item 7, the report on changes to standing orders, which covers three issues. Alasdair Rankin, the clerk to the Subordinate Legislation Committee, is here to deal briefly with the proposed change to the remit of the Subordinate Legislation Committee.

Convener, the Subordinate Legislation Committee is quite content with the amendment to its remit, which it hopes the Procedures Committee will be able to approve today. I am here to let you know that the Subordinate Legislation Committee is considering two consequential amendments, which would follow on from the committee's approval of the substantive amendment that members have before them today.

The first of the consequential amendments is to rule 9.1, which is on the first page of the chapter on bill procedures, and aims to tidy up the wording to make it more consistent with the new element of the committee's remit. This morning, the members of the committee agreed in private on a form of words, but I should advise members that the Subordinate Legislation Committee is yet to go to the Executive to seek its views and its agreement, which it is preferable to do in such matters.

You therefore have agreement on the change that we have already discussed, but not on the consequential amendments.

The committee has agreed on the substantive amendment to its remit and has agreed to a change to rule 6.2.1, but it has not agreed to a further amendment to the stage 2 procedure. All I wanted to tell members for now is that the Subordinate Legislation Committee will come back to the Procedures Committee with a proposed form of words for two consequential amendments.

So you do not expect us to deal with those amendments within the time scale.

No, it was just to let you know.

So that we do not say, "What are you playing at?" when the amendments appear.

Exactly.

That is understood. We will live with that and incorporate any further changes in any subsequent report that we make to Parliament on changing standing orders. That is the matter satisfactorily resolved. I think that we are all quite pleased about that.

Another proposed change to standing orders related to security staff, but we have identified that no change is necessary. Therefore, the report will cover the remit of the Subordinate Legislation Committee, as just noted, the decision on committee substitutes, assuming that all of that is agreed within the necessary time scale, and the extension of members' business, which we agreed earlier. The draft report is subject to a degree of amendment and insertion, as further items are brought forward. As we will have to have an additional meeting to discuss standing orders for private bill legislation, we will ask for an update on developments at that time.

Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

That concludes item 7. We move into private session.

Meeting continued in private until 12:05.