Subordinate Legislation Committee, 09 Sep 2003

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 9, 2003

Official Report 134KB pdf

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Minor Errors in Instruments

The final agenda item is on the letter that we have received from the office of the solicitor to the Scottish Executive, which is about printing errors and other minor errors in instruments. I draw members' attention to a few of the points that are made in the letter.

The first point is about instruments being made in a short time scale. As different bills have come along, the situation has become more and more hectic. At the committee's away day, we heard about the Executive's proposed Scottish statutory instrument tracking system, which will provide a more detailed timetable and allow the Executive to see how instruments are progressing through the system.

The Executive has taken on board some of the general points about training in the drafting of instruments that we made at the away day. The Executive says that it is addressing the issue of quality assurance.

The letter also mentions the role of Scottish statutory instrument advisers. The Executive is reviewing that role and ascertaining whether it can develop better practice by considering what happens at Whitehall.

Are there any points or elaborations on the letter?

On the proposed SSI tracking system, I understand that the Parliament already has such a system, so we might well ask why the Executive is developing a new one, although it could be too late to raise that point. I would also like to know when the Executive thinks that the system will be introduced, as no time scale is given in the letter. The system still might not be introduced four years down the line.

I gather that our system tracks instruments as they go through Parliament.

Okay.

I am slightly disappointed with the letter because it is a little negative, although it is more positive towards the end. It is a pity that Murray Tosh is not here, as he made some interesting comments on the issue earlier.

Do you mean that the tone of the letter is negative?

Yes. I feel that it is defensive. We simply want to improve the system.

I agree with Mike Pringle's comments about the negativity of the letter, especially in relation to the first two paragraphs. Given that the committee is attempting to improve matters, some of the comments in the letter are unnecessary, such as the slightly nippy point that the Executive frequently disagrees with us on points raised. Letters with such a tone do not assist the relationship between the Executive and the committee.

When I read the letter, I thought that it was a bit defensive, but the person who wrote the letter is only human and people tend to be defensive when they are under attack. To be fair to the man who wrote the letter, as it goes on, one consciously senses the tone changing and there are many positive comments.

I want to put down a marker—I hope that the situation will improve. I am embarrassed that, month after month, we constantly pick up lots of minor errors. After a while, we get embarrassed doing that and we start to think that we are picky and being a pest because we constantly pick on small matters. However, we should not have to make such complaints. Some mistakes are inevitable, but there is absolutely no doubt that in the first session of Parliament there were too many mistakes and we should not be embarrassed to say that.

We should start again and if there are improvements, we should be glad about it.

At the away day, we discussed the point that, if we continue to work together, there will be improvements, particularly when the new tracking system is introduced. We have agreed that the informal meetings between members and officials should continue, as should the informal meetings about drafting between Executive officials and committee officials, which are always useful. I assume that we are as agreed as we were at the away day that we should enhance our relationship with the Executive.

As there are no further points, I thank members for attending and for their contributions.

Meeting closed at 11:27.