Subordinate Legislation Committee, 23 Oct 2001

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 23, 2001

Official Report 95KB pdf

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Instruments Subject to Annulment

Education and Training (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2001
(SSI 2001/329)

No Executive note was supplied with the regulations, and the question is whether one should have been.

That is such a minor provision. As there is a note at the end of the instrument, I suggest that any further note is unnecessary.

We will simply note that no Executive note was included with the regulations.

Potatoes Originating in Germany (Notification) (Scotland) Order 2001
(SSI 2001/333)

This order is of an altogether different ilk. This is another instrument that draws on powers in section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972. When I read the order, I was not entirely sure that the Executive could actually make it.

We should ask the Executive to confirm whether, with reference to article 2(3) of the order, the provisions of the principal order referred to in the current order—not the references themselves—are to be construed in accordance with the principal order. The matter is pretty technical, but then everything to do with section 2(2) of the 1972 act is technical.

I do not know whether this point is germane to the discussion, but there is also a misleading footnote on page 1 of the order. I did not understand why it was required to be included in the order. Furthermore, although we might not consider the fact that the order breaches the 21-day rule as important in this case, we must ask whether the Executive has offended the rules of the European Commission. The matter might be relatively serious.

The breach of the 21-day rule is clearly a precautionary measure and as such it is only reasonable. A more serious problem is whether the order has been cleared by the Commission. We should therefore ask the Executive whether that has been done.

A wee drafting matter is the footnote on page 1, which refers to all sorts of different regulations and bits and pieces.

I will put that point under the heading "Cruelty to committee members".

I do not know whether other members have looked up all the references, but we have been assured that the matter is very complicated and therefore not terribly helpful. That should be avoided.

The legal adviser has also sent me a plea on this matter. She has almost recovered from the experience.

The committee will also be glad to know that notice of the order must be published in the Edinburgh Gazette as well as being laid before Parliament. However, the nub of the matter is whether the Executive has cleared the order with the Commission, which we will ask it in a letter.

Feeding Stuffs and the Feeding Stuffs (Enforcement) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2001 (SSI 2001/334)

There might be a question of vires on the regulations. For our own understanding, we should ask the Executive which regulations under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 provides the vires for these regulations.

I think that the issue might be the other way round, convener. The question is for which regulations section 2(2) of the 1972 act provides the vires. The point is a bit technical.

We will send a wee friendly letter to the Executive asking it to clarify the matter.

The other issue is how paragraph 22(g) of schedule 4 of the regulations relates to the principal regulations. However, that is just another case of asking the Executive to clarify things.

Fossil Fuel Levy (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2001 (SSI 2001/335)

Like two or three of the instruments this morning, the regulations contain a small typo. However, in such cases, the committee either mentions the matter informally or sometimes sends an informal letter.

Once again, there has been a breach of the 21-day rule. However, as no member is jumping up and down in anger, I can assume only that we find the explanation for the breach reasonable.

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2001 (SSI 2001/337)

Do members have any comments on the regulations?

I believe that the regulations have been described as a model of their kind.

They are a pleasure to read. We will be kind to furry animals and the people who draft the regulations.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease (Marking of Meat, Meat Products, Minced Meat and Meat Preparations) (Scotland) Regulations 2001 (SSI 2001/358)

It is a load of mince. [Laughter.]

Yes, but the regulations are fine. No points need concern us.

Import and Export Restrictions (Foot-and-Mouth Disease) (Scotland) (No 2) Amendment (No 3) Regulations 2001
(SSI 2001/367)

No points arise on the regulations.

National Health Service (General Dental Services) (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Regulations 2001 (SSI 2001/368)

We might require some explanation from the Executive about several points that arise on the regulations.

There appears to be a wrong footnote on page 1 of the regulations and the references to paragraphs (2) and (3) in new regulation 5A(3) do not seem to be right.

We will ask the Executive to explain those points.