Official Report 121KB pdf
The first negative instrument makes some minor amendments to the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995. We are advised that there are substantial drafting problems with the regulations, which include issues of definition and cross-referencing. One example is the confusion caused by the insertion of definitions of "charges regulations" and "remission of charges regulations", although no reference could be found in the regulations to either term. That is an example of the kind of sloppy drafting that is to be found throughout the instrument.
It is sloppy, and we should ask the Executive the reason for that. It may be that changes to the national health service are causing a great deal of drafting and re-drafting. That is a possibility but, on the other hand, there might be another explanation. If that is the case, we should know what it is.
I do not think that we have to go through every issue that has been brought to our attention. It would be best to draw all the points together in a critique of the regulations and to put that before the Executive. A whole heap of items need to be drawn to the Executive's attention so that it can look again at the drafting of the regulations. For example, it is not clear that the parent act allows for certain of the proposals contained in the regulations under the terms of sections 27A and 27B of the enabling act.
When the errors are so basic as to leave the meaning of "additional pharmaceutical services" open to question or debate, that points to a real weakness in the drafting.
We will draw all those points to the Executive's attention and look forward to its response. I am not sure whether we will get as helpful a response as we received the previous time, because we have made quite a few criticisms.