Rural Affairs and Environment Committee, 24 Oct 2007

Meeting date: Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Official Report 191KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (SSI 2007/439)<br />Import and Export Restrictions (Foot-and-Mouth Disease) (Scotland) (No 4) Regulations 2007 (SSI 2007/460)

We move to agenda item 3. I welcome Jim Hume to committee. He has been waiting patiently for this agenda item. There are two negative instruments for consideration, for which no motions to annul have been lodged. However, Jim Hume is here and Karen Gillon has indicated that she wishes to comment.

I have nothing to say at this stage, convener.

Okay. You are simply at committee to observe our discussion.

Yes.

I want to comment on the letter of 12 September from the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment that is attached to the regulations.

Which ones?

The ones on the less favoured area support scheme. The letter sets out the Government's rather interesting reasons for yet again breaching the 21-day laying period. The regulations require to be laid annually at approximately the same time of year. In his letter, the cabinet secretary said that the regulations would be laid and that that would breach the 21-day laying period. They were not laid until 27 September, which was 15 days from the date of the letter.

The reason given relates to the Government's submission of the Scottish rural development programme for 2007 to 2013 to Brussels on 20 June 2007. The Government does not as yet have agreement to the programme. The regulations could therefore have been laid at any time between 20 June and 27 September. The effect would have been the same, but the Government would not have breached the Parliament's 21-day rule.

I have no intention of lodging a motion on the regulations, because the LFASS payments need to be made, but the regulations should have been introduced earlier, in order for payments to be made to farmers more quickly than is the case at the moment. We need to make the point to the cabinet secretary in the strongest possible terms that the situation is simply unacceptable, just as we did to his Executive predecessors. The timescale for laying instruments is well known. We should say that we will not accept a repeat of this situation next year.

I agree with Karen Gillon. We require an explanation at the very least. I appreciate that the situation into which the minister arrived left him with no choice. That said, I cannot see why the matter was not dealt with earlier.

Right. I will now canvass the views of committee members on how they wish to proceed. Will we seek an explanation by way of a written request or by calling officials or the cabinet secretary before the committee?

Tempting as it is to call the cabinet secretary, or ministers, before committee and to have a good old ding-dong, I want the matter to be sorted. No member wishes to lodge a motion to annul. We need the regulations so that this year's payments can be made. Although we could have a good spectacle and a bit of fun, that would not achieve anything in the long term. We can proceed by written correspondence. Assuming that we receive a satisfactory response from the cabinet secretary, I am prepared to leave things at that. However, we should put down a clear marker that, as of next year, the committee will find such breaches of the rule to be unacceptable.

We can ensure that that is reflected in the written request for an explanation.

Do we agree to make no recommendation on the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2007?

Members indicated agreement.

We will add the matter to the agenda for our next committee meeting, at which point we will make our final determination.

The clerk has reminded me of the second instrument that is before us. Do we agree to make no recommendation on the Import and Export Restrictions (Foot-and-Mouth Disease) (Scotland) (No 4) Regulations 2007?

Members indicated agreement.

We move into private session for our final agenda item.

Meeting continued in private until 11:44.