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Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/556)<br />Private Landlord Registration (Advice and Assistance) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/557)
Agenda item 7 is instruments subject to annulment. No points arise on the first two sets of regulations.
Private Landlord Registration (Information and Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2005<br />(SSI 2005/558)
Five points have been raised on the regulations. First, regulation 2(2) states that, where information is not relevant to the applicant, the relevant person "should" indicate the fact on the application. The effect of the word "should" is unclear, so we will ask about that. Secondly, paragraph 3 of schedule 1 obliges the applicant to declare any convictions, but it does not refer to disclosure of spent convictions. Thirdly, paragraph 4 of schedule 1 requires applicants to declare that they comply with
Private Landlord Registration (Appeals against Decision as to Rent Payable) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/559)<br />Antisocial Behaviour Notice (Appeals against Order as to Rent Payable) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/560)
Antisocial Behaviour Notice (Management Control Orders) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/561)
No substantive points arise on the regulations.
Antisocial Behaviour Notice (Landlord Liability) (Scotland) Regulations 2005<br />(SSI 2005/562)<br />Antisocial Behaviour Notice (Advice and Assistance) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/563)
No substantive points arise on the regulations.
My notes state that SSI 2005/562 is called the "Landlord Licensing" regulations not, as you said when you read out the title, the "Landlord Liability" regulations. Those are quite different matters.
Yes. That is what I had in my notes. We will check the matter and put whatever is correct.
Disability Discrimination (Public Authorities) (Statutory Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/565)
No substantive points arise on the regulations.
Firefighters' Pension Scheme Amendment (Scotland) Order 2005 (SSI 2005/566)
The order makes detailed amendments to the Firemen's Pension Scheme Order 1992 as it extends to Scotland and in relation to spouses' entitlements in respect of firefighters' pensions. The committee should perhaps ask the Executive to confirm what plans it has to amend the firefighters' pension scheme to take account of civil partnerships under the Civil Partnership Act 2004 from 5 December 2005. We should also raise some minor points.
I agree that we should raise the matter with the Executive. It is slightly odd that the matter is not already covered in the order. The issue of civil partnerships has been addressed in a number of other instruments that deal with pension matters—Murray Tosh points out that that was the case in some instruments last week. There may be a valid reason why that is not occurring with this order—perhaps the Executive is consulting or doing something else. However, it seems strange that the matter is not addressed in the order, as that is the obvious place to deal with it.
We could ask that question. Is that agreed?
Civil Partnership (Supplementary Provisions relating to the Recognition of Overseas Dissolutions, Annulments or Separations) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/567)<br />Civil Partnership Act 2004 (Relationships Arising Through Civil Partnership) (Scotland) Order 2005 (SSI 2005/568)
No points arise on the instruments.
Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/569)
We mentioned the less favoured area support scheme earlier. No points arise other than the one that was raised earlier.
Registration of Independent Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/571)
The regulations prescribe the information to be supplied to ministers by applicants for registration of an independent school and to the registrar of independent schools by the proprietor of such a school. The committee will observe that the regulations do not appear to reflect the enabling powers, in particular under section 98(3) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. The suggestion is that we might want to ask the Executive, in the light of section 98(3), to explain the vires of regulation 4 and, as the requirements of section 98(3) are mandatory, seek an explanation for the omission of a provision reflecting paragraph (c) of that subsection. Is that agreed?
Civil Partnership Act 2004 (Modification of Subordinate Legislation) Order 2005<br />(SSI 2005/572)
The order makes amendments to a number of statutory instruments to take account of the introduction of civil partnerships—this perhaps follows on from the point that Stewart Maxwell made. The committee may wish to consider asking the Executive a number of questions. First, is it the intention of the order to encompass all the amendments to subordinate legislation currently identified as necessary and that are not being dealt with in some other way? Secondly, in relation to the preamble, why is there no reference to section 259(4) of the enabling act, which seems relevant to the order? Thirdly, in relation to the amendments made in regulations 3 and 4 of the Cremation (Scotland) Regulations 1935, why has no amendment been made to the heading to form G?
I am content that we should ask those questions. The question that I would like to emphasise is the one about the use of section 259 of the 2004 act rather than section 255. Section 255 provides for a specific power and section 259 provides for a general power. I would have thought that the specific power would take precedence over the general power. One provides for the negative procedure and the other for the affirmative procedure. It would have seemed more relevant to have used the specific power in this case rather than the general power. We should draw special attention to that in the letter that we send to the Executive.
Is that agreed?
Civil Partnership (Overseas Relationships) (Scotland) Order 2005 (SSI 2005/573)
No points arise on the order.