Official Report 68KB pdf
On 25 June the Parliament agreed to changes to the standing orders in relation to hybrid bills. The committee is asked to approve the guidance that will support the rule changes. The guidance is based on the standing orders and relevant parts of the guidance on public and private bills.
Are there matters about which we should be particularly concerned? The guidance document is very large and technical, as was the procedural document on hybrid bills, and it is not easy to draw anything terribly significant out of it. Are there any issues of concern that did not arise during our earlier discussions on hybrid bills?
There is nothing about which members should be concerned. I will set out some background about how the document was put together. It is an amalgam of guidance on public bills and guidance on private bills. There is probably only one novel part, which is the reference to the new rules requiring codes of construction practice and noise and vibration policies to be mandatory documents that accompany bills. It would be trite to describe the guidance as a cut-and-paste job, because Alison Wilson and Sarah Robertson have worked on it all summer and their job has not been easy, but in essence it is copied from existing guidance.
Are members happy to approve the guidance?
Members indicated agreement.
I apologise again to the officials for keeping them waiting, especially given that this item has been so short. Thank you for attending.
Meeting continued in private until 16:34.