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Chamber and committees

Local Government Committee, 17 Dec 2002

Meeting date: Tuesday, December 17, 2002


Contents


Subordinate Legislation


Scottish Local Government Elections Regulations 2002 (draft)

The Convener:

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 will allow the minister a short time to give evidence to the committee. That will be followed by a session during which members can ask questions for clarification purposes only. The debate will come next. After the minister has read from his statement and moved the motion formally, I will ask members whether they wish to speak in favour of, or against, the motion. Finally, the minister will sum up and we will move to a vote, if that is appropriate.

I invite the minister to give evidence on the regulations.

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP):

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As far as I know, those regulations have been withdrawn.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 Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Services (Peter Peacock):

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The previous regulations have been withdrawn; we will consider the fresh regulations.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If the Parliament agreed to approve the original regulations, surely those regulations cannot be withdrawn and replaced by a new set of regulations.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 Convener:

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.

The Convener:

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.

I do not know how often such things happen. In my experience, this is the first time that a piece of subordinate legislation has been returned to the Local Government Committee because of continued bad drafting.

Peter Peacock:

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.

I regret that that has been necessary, but the rules of the Parliament require us to consider the regulations again. I am happy to answer any questions, although I am conscious that we dealt with the merits of the points at a previous meeting.

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.