Subordinate Legislation Committee, 11 Jan 2000

Meeting date: Tuesday, January 11, 2000

Official Report 76KB pdf

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Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 (SSI 1999/187)

Do members want to make any points on SSI 1999/187?

I would like to echo the point that Trish Godman made on the previous matter. The regulations appear to be incredibly complicated. One must remember that a large number of hill farmers are getting on a bit and it seems overly complex that they should have to examine the regulations and work out whether a particular animal complies with the rules. We should make the general point to the Executive that the people who have to use and apply the regulations should be borne in mind. The regulations could be made simpler.

Would Trish Godman like to make a point on that issue?

No—I agree with David Mundell.

I support everything that David has said and will add that the regulations do not appear to have been accompanied by the relevant EU legislation, which has made it impossible for our legal advisers to check properly for vires.

There also seems to be no provision for the withholding of or recovery of compensatory allowance, where a person has made a false or misleading statement with a view to obtaining an allowance under the scheme. We are also advised that, in regulation 2, the words

"unless the context otherwise requires"

seem—again—to have been included without purpose.

There seems to be no appeal system included in those regulations. I had understood that the Executive was actively considering and was going to bring forward such a system. It would be bad news for all those affected by the regulations if there was no system of appeal against the regulatory mechanism, which—as David pointed out—has caused a great deal of heartache and financial penalty within farming communities in Scotland.

Regulation 21(2) sets a time limit of 12 months for commencement of proceedings after commission of an offence, which is standard for such acts as the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, but not for the beef bones regulations. It might be useful to have some indication of what the logic is in having a 12-month time limit on offences under the regulations. Is that to be a standard that will be applied across the board for related matters, and if so, why is there a three-year limit on one issue and a 12-month limit on another?