Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (Consequential and Supplemental Provisions) Order 2015 [Draft]
Agenda item 3 is consideration the draft Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (Consequential and Supplemental Provisions) Order 2015, which is an affirmative instrument. I welcome to the meeting Paul Wheelhouse, the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs—good morning, minister—Hazel Dalgard from the civil law and legal system division, and Greig Walker from the directorate for legal services.
I remind everyone present that officials can take part the discussion under this item, which is an evidence session, but not in the formal debate that follows. I invite the minister to make an opening statement.
Thank you, convener.
The order seeks to make consequential amendments to primary and secondary legislation in support of the commencement of the civil jurisdiction and competence of the Sheriff Appeal Court. I understand that the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the order on 27 October and that no points were raised.
The commencement order that was laid on 6 November makes provision for civil appeals, which were formerly appealed from the sheriff to the sheriff principal, to be heard by the civil Sheriff Appeal Court instead. The court is due to be commenced on 1 January 2016.
As members have no questions, we move straight on to item 4, which is the formal debate on the motion which asks the committee to recommend approval of the draft order. I invite the minister to move motion—
Formally moved—I am sorry; I got ahead of you there.
Just for the record, I point out that the motion in question is S4M-14683. I want to make sure that you move the correct motion.
Motion moved,
That the Justice Committee recommends that the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (Consequential and Supplemental Provisions) Order 2015 [draft] be approved.—[Paul Wheelhouse.]
Motion agreed to.
As members are aware, we are required to report on all affirmative instruments. Are members content to delegate authority to me to sign off the report on the draft order?
Members indicated agreement.
Scottish Tribunals (Administrative Support for Listed Tribunals) Order 2015 [Draft]
Scottish Tribunals (Listed Tribunals) Regulations 2015 [Draft]
Agenda item 5 is consideration of the draft Scottish Tribunals (Administrative Support for Listed Tribunals) Order 2015. The minister is still here, but his officials have changed. I welcome Sandra Wallace and Hannah Frodsham from the civil law and legal system division, and John St Clair from the legal services directorate.
I invite the minister to make an opening statement.
I will speak to both the draft Scottish Tribunals (Administrative Support for Listed Tribunals) Order 2015 and the draft Scottish Tribunals (Listed Tribunals) Regulations 2015, and I ask the committee to recommend that Parliament approve them.
Both instruments are technical in nature and do not alter how either of the tribunals in question operates. By way of background, I have provided the committee with a paper—I did so at relatively short notice, for which I apologise—that gives a brief overview of the Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014 and a note of the various instruments that will come before the committee in the near future, including the two instruments that it is considering today.
As the paper highlights, the 2014 act creates a simplified and coherent structure for tribunals in Scotland. It creates two tribunals: the first-tier tribunal for Scotland, which will make decisions at first instance, and the upper tribunal for Scotland, which primarily will decide appeals from the first-tier tribunal. The two tribunals are known collectively as the Scottish tribunals.
The functions of existing devolved tribunals will transfer into the Scottish tribunals in a phased process, starting with the Private Rented Housing Panel and the Homeowner Housing Panel and their respective committees in September next year. The full list of tribunals whose functions might transfer in are listed in schedule 1 to the 2014 act.
I will now outline why each of the instruments is necessary.
On the Scottish Tribunals (Administrative Support for Listed Tribunals) Order 2015, for reasons that I will come to in a moment, it is necessary to add to the listed tribunals in schedule 1 to the 2014 act references to the Private Rented Housing Panel and the Homeowner Housing Panel. For ease, from now on I will refer to them as the PRHP and the HOHP.
I do not know if that will make it any easier but go ahead.
Me neither, convener.
Currently, schedule 1 to the 2014 act lists only the private rented housing committee and the homeowner housing committee, which I will call the PRHC and the HOHC—we can see how this is going to go.
The PRHP and PRHC were created by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006. The PRHC, which is made up of members of the PRHP, deals with tenant complaints about repairing problems. The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 renames the PRHP and the PRHC as the HOHP and the HOHC when they deal with complaints from homeowners about a property factor. Both the relevant acts confer the functions of the tribunals directly on the committees rather than the panels, which explains why the committees, rather than the panels, are listed in the acts.
However, section 35 of the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Act 2011 amends the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 to allow a private sector landlord to apply to the PRHP, as opposed to the PRHC, for help in exercising rights of entry into a property.
I started the day without a headache, but I feel one coming on.
I share your pain, convener.
Section 35 of the 2011 act is about to be commenced. The draft Private Rented Housing Panel (Landlord Applications) (Scotland) Regulations 2015 are being considered by the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee and, subject to parliamentary approval, will come into force on 1 December this year.
As a result of the commencement of section 35 of the 2011 act, functions will be conferred directly on the PRHP rather than the PRHC. It is therefore necessary to amend schedule 1 to the Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014 to include the PRHP to enable the functions of the panel to transfer into the Scottish tribunals along with those of the PRHC, which, as I said, is already listed in that schedule.
As the HOHP is the PRHP, albeit in another guise, a similar amendment is also necessary to include the HOHP—the official reporters will be glad to know that I will pass my notes to them at the end of the meeting.
For the reasons that I have outlined, the second instrument before the committee—the draft Scottish Tribunals (Administrative Support for Listed Tribunals) Order 2015—requires us to amend the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, schedule 4 to which lists the tribunals to which the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service may provide administrative support. By making the instrument, we will allow the SCTS to continue to provide administrative support for the two panels as well as for the two committees.
We undertook a 12-week consultation on the instruments, which was combined with a consultation on the proposed structure of the first-tier tribunal, on which, as members will see from the paper that I have provided, I plan to bring forward an instrument for consideration at a later date.
There were nine responses from individuals and organisations, including the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish tribunals and administrative justice advisory committee. All responses focused only on the structure of the first-tier tribunal. There were no responses on the policy or the drafting of the instruments.
In conclusion, these technical instruments are required to allow the SCTS to continue to provide administration for the PRHP and the HOHP when section 35 of the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Act 2011 is commenced on 1 December this year. They will also ensure that the functions of the panels can transfer into the Scottish tribunals as planned in September 2016.
I thank you for your patience, convener, and I hope that your headache is relieved.
Thank you very much. I note that you spoke to both instruments.
I did, convener. I was trying to portray—
No, it is fine. We will let you get away with it today because you were wrapped up in it.
I do hope that somebody has a question.
Good morning, minister. What financial considerations have been given to the creation of the new private rented sector jurisdiction?
We do not anticipate huge financial implications. I will confirm this with my colleagues but I believe that only four cases have come before the PRHC in the past year. A very low volume of appeals has been taken through the tribunals in this way.
It is not actually a new panel—it is an existing jurisdiction. The same finance is in place—the finance is already there.
We are not anticipating any significant change—it is just a rebadging. The level of activity is fairly low at present.
Margaret McDougall will get an award for asking a question after all those PRPs, PRCOPs or whatever else was happening there.
I look forward to receiving it.
It will be an extra delight for you.
A pastry?
An extra pastry—yes.
Following that question and answer, we now move to item 6, which is the formal debate on motion S4M-14684, which asks the committee to recommend approval of the draft order.
Motion moved,
That the Justice Committee recommends that the Scottish Tribunals (Administrative Support for Listed Tribunals) Order 2015 [draft] be approved.—[Paul Wheelhouse.]
Motion agreed to.
Are members content to delegate authority to me to sign off the report on the draft order?
Members indicated agreement.
Item 7 is on our final affirmative instrument today, the draft Scottish Tribunals (Listed Tribunals) Regulations 2015. The officials are the same—you do not need to change—and the minister does not need to make an opening statement as he has already done so.
There are no questions, so I move straight on to item 8, which is the formal debate on motion S4M-14685, which asks the committee to recommend approval of the draft regulations.
Motion moved,
That the Justice Committee recommends that the Scottish Tribunals (Listed Tribunals) Regulations 2015 [draft] be approved.—[Paul Wheelhouse.]
Motion agreed to.
Again, are members content to delegate authority to me to sign off the report on the draft regulations?
Members indicated agreement.
Thank you. I thank the minister very much for attending.
10:11 Meeting suspended.