Subordinate Legislation Committee, 21 Nov 2000
Meeting date: Tuesday, November 21, 2000
Official Report
111KB pdf
Act of Sederunt (Summary Applications, Statutory Applications and Appeals etc Rules) Amendment (No 2) (Administration of Justice (Scotland) Act 1972) 2000 (SSI 2000/387)
The committee has considered similar rules before. Under prescriptions on service in chapter 3, the rules read:
"If it is likely that the premises will be occupied by an unaccompanied female, and the commissioner is not female, one of the people accompanying the commissioner shall be female."
We discussed on a previous occasion our uncertainty as to why that restriction is there, and why it specifies only single women, and not people from ethnic minorities, or children, or people with learning difficulties. The restriction comes across as patronising—or possibly chivalrous—or as something rather old-fashioned, rather than anything to do with equality of the sexes. We should draw the provision to the attention of the Court of Session.
The relationship between the committee and the court is rather unclear, and I would welcome an opportunity to explore informally the court's view of its relationship with the committee and the Parliament in general.
I would welcome that. Members of the judiciary are, in any event, non-compellable witnesses—an informal chat is the only way in which we would achieve a meeting. It would be in all our best interests to work out how the court sees our role and what we could do to interact better.