Subordinate Legislation Committee, 23 Sep 2003

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Official Report 207KB pdf

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Instruments Subject to Annulment

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National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Amendment (No 3) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 (SSI 2003/425)

No points arise on the regulations.

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Air Quality Limit Values (Scotland) Regulations 2003 (SSI 2003/428)

Stewart Maxwell has some points to raise on the regulations.

There is the obvious point that the directive said that the regulations had to be implemented by 9 September but they will not come into force until 2 October. There might be reasons for that, but it is obvious that slippage has occurred.

My main point is about part II of schedule 2. One entry in the first column of the table entitled "Target Values for Ozone" on page 14 ought to refer to a target value for the protection of vegetation, not human health. The words "human health" appear twice in that column, which makes no sense and is a clear error in the table.

The question is which entry should be changed.

I do not know. I am not an expert in the matter, so I do not know which is wrong. I presume that not both target values apply to vegetation.

I am a scientist, but I would not like to hazard a guess.

If the second row of the table applied to human health, we would be looking after humans only from May to July.

Okay—we think that the second entry in the first column should mention vegetation.

We have noted three other errors in the regulations. One is in paragraph 1.1 of part I of schedule 5, on page 21. Paragraph 1.1(c) of schedule 3, on page 16, contains a table headed "Particulate Matter" and seems to be missing a footnote. The definition of "public" in regulation 14(15) is restricted to that regulation, but it appears from regulation 2 that it is to have that meaning for the purposes of every relevant regulation. Do we agree to ask the Executive about those five points?

Will we ask why the Executive did not meet the deadline?

Yes.

Another important point is that the regulations are not accompanied by a transposition note. We will remind the Executive about that.

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National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) (Scotland) Amendment <br />(No 3) Regulations 2003 (SSI 2003/431)<br />National Health Service (General Ophthalmic Services) (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Regulations 2003 <br />(SSI 2003/432)

The point about consolidation is raised again by both sets of regulations. We should ask the Executive about plans for consolidating the regulations and include that in our general letter.

Apart from that, we have no points on the regulations.

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Smoke Control Area (Exempt Fireplaces) (Scotland) Order 2003 (SSI 2003/436)

No points arise on the order.

It is a rollercoaster ride, isn't it?

No, no, this is "Harry Potter"—the fireplaces thing.

It is a good job that the Official Report cannot convey the tone of my voice now.

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Food (Star Anise from Third Countries) (Emergency Control) (Scotland) Revocation Order 2003 (SSI 2003/437)

No points arise on the order.

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Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 (Transitional Provisions) Order 2003 <br />(SSI 2003/438)

No points arise on the order, except for the concern about the use of the singular word "power", rather than the plural. We will mention that in an informal letter.

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Victims' Rights (Prescribed Bodies) (Scotland) Order 2003 (SSI 2003/440)

No points arise on the order.

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Victim Statements (Prescribed Offences) (Scotland) Order 2003 (SSI 2003/441)

No points arise on the order, but our legal advice contains interesting background information.