Justice 2 Committee, 24 Apr 2002
Meeting date: Wednesday, April 24, 2002
Official Report
212KB pdf
Subordinate Legislation
Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/143)
We move on to item 3, which is subordinate legislation. I refer members to paper J2/02/14/9 and there is some information supplementary to that paper.
Yesterday, the Subordinate Legislation Committee considered the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 for a second time, and considered the Executive's response to some of its concerns. The Executive's response has been circulated to members.
The Subordinate Legislation Committee wants to draw to the attention of the Justice 2 Committee—the lead committee—the fact that the regulations do not prescribe that volunteers will not be charged for the certificates. The equivalent instrument for England and Wales provides that
"no fee is payable in relation to an application made by a volunteer".
The Executive has reiterated that there is no intention to charge volunteers. Volunteer Development Scotland will pay the fees for volunteers and will be reimbursed by the Executive.
Members will recall that, last week, we dealt with similar regulations in relation to vulnerable adults. The Deputy Minister for Justice came to the meeting because the instrument was subject to the affirmative procedure. The instrument we are considering today is subject to the negative procedure.
Last week, I asked the minister to clarify the issue of fees, particularly in relation to students. The Association of Scottish Colleges had written to me, as convener, about that. The association was concerned about whether students would be exempt. The minister said that the Executive is currently considering the matter.
We now have the regulations that deal with the question of fees. We have to report by 6 May. Is there anything that members want to comment on?
I am reasonably relaxed about the issue now. When the matter was first mooted, youth organisations in particular were concerned that if they were required to pay the charges that might be imposed, that would cause problems. The fact that those charges will be waived removes that difficulty.
Such situations are always difficult to balance. We would all prefer if this kind of documentation were not required. Unfortunately, we have to operate in the real world and we would not wish to see children or young people being put at risk. That being the case, I am reasonably relaxed about the instrument.
I ask the committee to agree that, as part of our report, we will mention the exemption for students. The Executive has said that it will consider that. There is no indication of where it intends to go on the issue. The worry is that, even if the charges are made to colleges for students on placement who are working with children or vulnerable adults, those charges might be passed on to students. There would be no accounting for that fee in either student loans or bursaries. Do members agree that we should raise the matter in our report?
Members indicated agreement.