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Instruments Subject <br />to Annulment
Napier University (Scotland) Order of Council 1993 Amendment Order of Council 2007 (SSI 2007/160)
Are members content to ask the Executive why the definitions that will be inserted by article 2(2)(a) of the order are not used in the 1993 order and, accordingly, whether those definitions are intended to correspond to the words that are used in newly inserted articles 3(2)(d)(ii) and (iii) of the 1993 order?
We wondered about that.
We are content. The Executive has gone to only a fourth definition.
We are not really content.
No; rather, we are content to ask the Executive a question.
Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 <br />(SSI 2007/194)<br />Gambling (Premises Licence Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (SSI 2007/197)
No points arise on the regulations.
Firefighters' Compensation Scheme (Scotland) Amendment Order 2007 <br />(SSI 2007/198)
No substantive points arise on the order, although there is a minor point concerning gender neutrality, I think.
You could be in trouble for considering that point to be minor.
Some of my colleagues would not see it as a minor point. However, we will raise it informally.
I do not think that that point arises on this order. However, there is a minor point to do with the definition of "Scottish fire authority".
I am sorry. The point about gender neutrality relates to another instrument. You are right—there is a minor point on the definition of "Scottish fire authority".
Firefighters' Pension Scheme (Scotland) Order 2007 (SSI 2007/199)
No points arise on the order.
Firefighters' Pension Scheme Amendment (Scotland) Order 2007 (SSI 2007/200)
Are members content to ask the Executive why it was necessary to include the Scotland Act 1998 (Transfer of Functions to the Scottish Ministers etc) Order 1999 (SI 1999/1750) in a footnote, given that it no longer has effect by reason of not having been included as a saved enactment under the Firefighters' Pension Scheme (England and Scotland) Order 2004 (SI 2004/2306)?
Police Pensions (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (SSI 2007/201)
Are members content to ask the Executive whether the reference, in paragraph 8(a) of schedule 3, to regulation (2)(a)(iv) should be to regulation 6(2)(a)(iv), and whether it is content that the amount of £30,000 that is specified in regulation 84(4) is correct, given the much smaller amount of £5,000 that is specified in the equivalent English provision?
We should probably ask the Executive about that, but I assume that the decision that was made was simply a policy decision. Otherwise, it would be an odd typo.
The figure does not strike me as a typo. We would welcome an explanation of it, as the difference between the figures seems so remarkable.
We could certainly ask for an explanation.
Business Improvement Districts (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (SSI 2007/202)
Are members content to ask the Executive, in relation to regulations 9(1) and 9(2), given that "eligible ratepayer" and "eligible person" may comprise more than one person, how the vote allocated to the "relevant property" is to be exercised jointly if there is disagreement between those persons?
These are the regulations on which a gender neutral point arises. There is a reference to "his" rather than to "their" functions.
National Health Service (Primary Medical Services Section 17C Agreements) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007 (SSI 2007/205)<br />National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007 <br />(SSI 2007/206)
No points arise on the regulations.
National Health Service (Primary Medical Services Performers Lists) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007 <br />(SSI 2007/207)
No substantive points arise on the regulations, although there is a minor point that can be raised informally.
National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007 (SSI 2007/208)
This will be the 19th amendment to the principal regulations. Are members content to add the regulations to our list for the consolidation working group in session 3?
Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2007 (SSI 2007/209)
Are members content to add the order to the list for the consolidation working group?
I note that, when we raised the issue in 2001, the Executive said that its priority was to consolidate the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992 (SI 1992/223). The Executive has an interesting definition of priority.
Indeed.
There are also some minor points to raise informally.
Justices of the Peace (Scotland) Order 2007 (SSI 2007/210)<br />Act of Sederunt (Fees of Shorthand Writers in the Sheriff Court) (Amendment) 2007 (SSI 2007/211)
Bankruptcy Fees (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007 (SSI 2007/220)
No points arise on the instruments.
Town and Country Planning (Application of Subordinate Legislation to the Crown) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2007 <br />(SSI 2007/221)
No points arise on the order, but members might wish to note that it remedies a defect that the committee identified in relation to the Town and Country Planning (Application of Subordinate Legislation to the Crown) (Scotland) Order 2006 (SSI 2006/270).
Personal Injuries (NHS Charges) (Reviews and Appeals) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007 (SSI 2007/222)
No substantive points arise on the regulations, but there is a minor point that can be raised informally.
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003 Supplementary Provisions (Recovery of NHS Charges) (Scotland) Order 2007 (SSI 2007/223)<br />Seed (Scotland) (Amendments for Tests and Trials etc) Regulations 2007 <br />(SSI 2007/224)
No points arise on the instruments.
National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007 (SSI 2007/225)
Are members content to ask the Executive to explain the vires for regulation 2, which appears to give regulation 3(2)(c) retrospective effect, despite the apparent absence of express authority to do so in the parent act—the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978.
Inshore Fishing (Prohibited Methods of Fishing) (Firth of Lorn) Revocation Order 2007 (SSI 2007/239)<br />Inshore Fishing (Prohibited Methods of Fishing) (Firth of Lorn) (No 2) Order 2007 (SSI 2007/240)
No substantive points arise on the orders, but they breach the 21-day rule. We have had received correspondence from our colleague Fergus Ewing.
The correspondence from Mr Ewing is on SSI 2007/240, not on SSI 2007/239. Does it apply to both orders?
I think that it applies to both. I put the orders together on the agenda. We are discussing both.
It is just that the header in his e-mail refers to SSI 2007/240.
We are discussing both orders on the basis that the points raised apply to both.
The issues raised in our briefing on the orders relate to the breach of the 21-day rule. In the circumstances, we can probably accept the explanation given. Mr Ewing's point was about the failure to consult adequately the Mallaig and North West Fishermen's Association and the Scallop Association. Our attitude to that would have to be that it is clear from the power that the secretary of state and, therefore, the Scottish ministers, have the power to consult such bodies as they consider to be appropriate. Although I might agree with Fergus Ewing's point that the associations are appropriate bodies to consult, from our point of view the exercise is to be assured by the minister that appropriate consultation has taken place.
I agree. It seems odd that the associations were not consulted, because they seem the obvious ones to consult. However, Murray Tosh is right that the secretary of state and the Scottish ministers can consult such bodies as they consider appropriate, so there is no technical flaw in the orders in that regard. I agree that Mr Ewing and Mr McGrigor, who was also involved, should take up the matter with the lead committee, which might want to pursue it with the minister.
That is a fair statement of the position. SSI 2007/239 revokes the original Inshore Fishing (Prohibited Methods of Fishing) (Firth of Lorn) Order 2007 (SSI 2007/186), because the date in italics at the top did not match the date in the order itself. The new order—SSI 2007/240—implements the provisions from the correct date. That mistake means that the order breaches the 21-day rule, but we are happy to accept that.
We should do so as a courtesy to Mr Ewing.
We will forward Mr Ewing's correspondence to the lead committee along with a note of our discussion and a reference to the general power, which states that ministers may, after consultation with such bodies as they consider appropriate, make orders. It actually says:
There is a gender point there, which you might wish to raise and pursue, convener.
The power was drafted in a bygone age. We have moved on since then.
I realise that you think that it is a minor point, but some of us think that it is a major point.
Given that I raised it, that tells you exactly what I think.