Subordinate Legislation Committee, 18 Jan 2005

Meeting date: Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Official Report 113KB pdf

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Instruments Subject to Annulment

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Instruments Subject <br />to Annulment

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Food Labelling (Added Phytosterols or Phytostanols) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/1)

My briefing note says that no points have been identified on the regulations, but the situation is not quite as simple as that, is it Mr Maxwell?

My concern does not relate to a legal point that has been identified but it is worth putting on the record nevertheless, as it concerns something that is creeping into our legislation ever more frequently. As our legal advisers point out, the drafter of the regulations

"has simply ‘put a kilt' on the English regulations".

When English regulations are used in that way, we end up with Scottish regulations that use language that is inconsistent with that which is used in our legislation. It does not make a great deal of difference, but is another example of the sort of thing that means that we end up talking about the Forth estuary rather than the Firth of Forth. The Executive should be aware that it is not acceptable to rubber stamp—or to put a kilt on—regulations that have come from elsewhere. Regulations should use the language that has been used in previous Scottish legislation, which means that these regulations should use the term "food authority" rather than the English term "local authority".

I am experiencing déjà vu. A well known sheriff from Ayrshire—David Smith; Murray Tosh will remember him—used to send me regular e-mails on this subject. He had a legitimate point about the danger of forgetting our roots and language. Oddly enough, I am not totally unsympathetic to that point, because I think that there is a sense in which language is important. However, I do not think that there is much that we can do about it other than doing what Mr Maxwell has done and flagging it up as something that the Executive should look out for when it is drafting legislation.

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National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/3)<br />Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Prescribed Police Stations) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/9)

No points arise on the regulations.

Thank you all very much for attending. As they say, have a nice day.

Meeting closed at 10:17.