Subordinate Legislation Committee, 12 Jan 2010
Meeting date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Official Report
105KB pdf
Alcohol etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
The second agenda item is of interest to the Parliament and members of other committees, and we must stick to the rules on our function.
There are a number of delegated powers in the bill. At this point, we would normally write to the Government with any questions and consider the Government's response at a subsequent meeting before finalising our stage 1 report. However, we have time available to hear first-hand from officials before making our recommendations. In particular, the committee might want to take oral evidence on the reason why the initial minimum price per unit of alcohol will be set through delegated powers rather than being put into the bill. It might be more productive for us to take oral evidence for our consideration of the delegated powers rather than trading questions and answers with the Scottish Government, because the answers are sometimes not as full as they might be. What are members' views on that? I have expressed my thoughts.
I agree with you.
I also agree.
Okay. Do we agree to invite officials to give oral evidence on the bill at our meeting of 26 January?
Members indicated agreement.
Splendid. We can now leap forward quite quickly on the agenda.