Official Report 265KB pdf
Scottish Local Government Elections Regulations 2002 (draft)
The piece of subordinate legislation before us might seem familiar. That is because we have seen it before. The Executive acknowledged that the drafting of the original regulations was defective and indicated that it would introduce amending regulations. Although the committee approved the original regulations, with the proviso that they contained defective drafting, the Executive withdrew those regulations. The regulations before us replace the original regulations.
I seek clarification. I am sure that members recall the comments that the committee made about defective drafting. Did the Parliament approve the Scottish Local Government Elections Regulations 2002 last Wednesday or Thursday, or did I imagine that?
As far as I know, those regulations have been withdrawn.
So we approved the regulations.
To be honest, I do not know. Perhaps the minister or his officials know the answer to that.
The committee agreed to recommend that the regulations be approved. As it would have been usual for the regulations to be subject to parliamentary approval last week, I imagine that that happened. Today's regulations are fresh regulations. They are necessary to regularise the errors that the previous regulations contained.
The previous regulations have been withdrawn; we will consider the fresh regulations. Is that okay?
If the Parliament agreed to approve the original regulations, surely those regulations cannot be withdrawn and replaced by a new set of regulations. I would like the officials to clarify whether that is possible.
The regulations that we are considering are a replacement for the regulations that were approved. When those regulations were examined, it was found that they continued to be badly drafted. Although the principle in the present regulations is the same, we will keep our fingers crossed that this time they have been properly drafted.
Is it in order for regulations that the Parliament has approved to be withdrawn and for us to consider replacement regulations?
You have a point, but as far as I am aware, that is all right procedurally.
We are in the Parliament's hands in relation to procedure. We have been advised that the correct procedure is to lodge the replacement regulations.
I just wanted to clarify that.
We have been advised that the proposed course of action is all right. I suggest that we proceed until we can obtain absolute clarification. The minister is of the opinion that although the issue is in the hands of the Parliament, we can pursue the proposed procedure.
As the convener said, I spoke about the regulations and their purpose on 3 December. I do not propose to give a repeat performance. I indicated that we would introduce amendments to correct the minor drafting errors that the Subordinate Legislation Committee brought to our attention. We have now done that.
Motion moved,
That the Local Government Committee, in consideration of the draft Scottish Local Government Elections Regulations 2002, recommends that the regulations be approved.—[Peter Peacock.]
Motion agreed to.