Official Report 209KB pdf
Personal Injuries (NHS Charges) (Amounts) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (draft)
We asked the Executive to confirm that the provisions of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003, to which the draft regulations relate, will be commenced substantively before 29 January 2007. The Executive confirmed that they will be commenced on 28 January 2007.
Is that what "substantively" means?
If a day was all you had left to live, it would be a long time.
Criminal Legal Aid (Scotland) (Fees) Amendment Regulations 2006 <br />(SSI 2006/515)
We noted that the increases in solicitors' fees provided for by the regulations were backdated to 1 December 2005. We asked the Executive to explain what power authorises the retrospective effect of the regulations provided for in regulation 2. The Executive appears to have conceded that the regulations are indeed retrospective and that no power in the parent act authorises such retrospection. There is nothing in the parent act to indicate that regulations could provide for the backdating of payments. We must tell the lead committee that the regulations might not be intra vires. I said quite truthfully at last week's meeting that I had no direct conflict of interest in this matter, but if the regulations are found to be intra vires I will also have no friends, which is more worrying.
Are all your friends lawyers and solicitors? That is worrying.
If my colleagues discover that the regulations might not be retrospective, my life will not be entirely safe. However, we must do our job and see what happens.