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Item 4 is Executive correspondence. Members will recall that the convener, Sylvia Jackson, wrote to the Minister for Parliamentary Business, Margaret Curran, to raise concerns about the number of Scottish statutory instruments that were to be laid before dissolution. Given that we have just dealt with a huge number of SSIs—although we did so fairly rapidly—I would welcome any comments on the Executive's response.
This harks back to our inquiry on the regulatory framework and the necessity for forward planning and advance notice. We dealt with that fairly extensively in our inquiry report. It would benefit us all—this committee, lead committees and the Executive—if we had an advance planning and notification system in place. I note from the minister's response that she sees potential for improvements in the process. I hope that that is a hint for a future Executive to try to improve things.
Indeed. We can note the minister's response. She acknowledges that the number of SSIs is a concern. I imagine that it is a concern for her officials as much as it is for us, and, certainly, our legal advisers, who must be almost overwhelmed with instruments at the moment. We can highlight the issue in our legacy paper, which we will discuss shortly.
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