Official Report 144KB pdf
Taxi Drivers' Licences (Carrying of Guide Dogs and Hearing Dogs) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/500)
No motions to annul the regulations have been lodged and, as no other action can be taken, I assume that no one wants to comment.
This is the second report that we have had from the Subordinate Legislation Committee that points out serious drafting issues. Indeed, the regulations seem worse than the previous instrument. On page 3, the report mentions defective drafting and
I support Sylvia Jackson's comments and I share her concerns about the sloppy drafting. Despite the fact that they are defective, we are allowing the regulations to go through because we do not want to delay their implementation. That is not good enough. Either the Executive must get its act together or we should examine the procedures to allow drafting errors to be corrected.
It is serious when the Executive produces such sloppily drafted regulations. It is not for the Parliament or the Subordinate Legislation Committee and the clerks to tidy up the Executive's work time after time. As Sylvia Jackson said, this is not the first time that an instrument has had drafting problems. The committee must put on record its concerns that, in effect, the Parliament is doing work that the Executive should carry out.
Do members agree that our concerns about the sloppy drafting of the regulations should go in our report?
Members indicated agreement.
I have not seen the papers, so bear with me, but can I ask—
Are you going to ask about the age of taxi drivers?
No. In Glasgow there have been occasional difficulties with the matters that the regulations cover. If the regulations are approved, will guide dogs for the blind and hearing dogs for the deaf carry a disc on their collars or something similar? A taxi driver could claim that they do not know whether a dog is a guide dog.
I cannot answer that at the moment, but I will clarify the matter when we write our report.
It is a relevant point. There might be disputes.
To be helpful, regulation 1(4)(b) sets out that the regulations refer to a dog that
Yes. We will clarify the matter further for our report. Do members agree that the committee has no recommendation to make on the regulations?
Members indicated agreement.
Meeting continued in private until 17:24.