Official Report 83KB pdf
Local Governance (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Item 1 is delegated powers scrutiny. Members will remember the question that we raised with the Scottish Executive about the Local Governance (Scotland) Bill. We have received a reply from the Executive, and we also have before us some comments from our legal advisers.
You were right to use the word "reply", convener, as that describes what we have received: we have received a response, but not an answer to our question. Frankly, I do not accept the response that we have received, which in no way explains the point that we tried to raise with the Executive. The Executive says:
I entirely agree with that. When I read its response, I wondered whether the Executive had actually read the questions that we sent it or whether it had read some other question and responded to that. The reply certainly was not an answer. I entirely agree with what Stewart Maxwell says: I think that we should go back to the Executive.
Are there any contrary views?
Absolutely not. I was not at the legal briefing earlier, but my reaction is the same as that of my colleagues who have spoken already. I wondered whether the reply was an exercise in checking whether committees read such responses, in which case the Executive should note that we have done so and that we would now like the answer.
Absolutely.
Just to join in this morning's general having-a-kick routine, I am fascinated by the phrase,
Ah, so we know that it was a lawyer who drafted the response.
It might not have been, but it strikes me that way. We should ask the Executive now to tell us specifically what
We should ask why the relevant provisions of the Local Governance (Scotland) Bill are different from those in the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill. I ask the clerk, Alasdair Rankin, if he could draft a letter for us along those lines. That would be excellent.