Official Report 69KB pdf
The first item on today's agenda is the Executive's response to points raised by the committee about the Shetland Islands Regulated Fishery (Scotland) Order (SSI 1999/194). There has been a protracted period during which correspondence on the matter has been sent back and forth. Do members wish to comment on the terms of the correspondence?
There are some doubts about whether the tolls provision in the instrument is within vires. There are also doubts about cross-referencing and dates. The committee should, perhaps, draw those doubts to the attention of the Rural Affairs Committee. Individual members might also mention the matter to colleagues. I will certainly have a word with the convener of that committee to see whether matters can be resolved with a bit of prodding and pushing, as we have done successfully in relation to regulations on legal aid provision, which went before the Justice and Home Affairs Committee.
That approach has much to recommend it.
I would like to mention that in the legal briefing there are issues relating to, among other things, joint ownership, which could be brought to the Rural Affairs Committee's attention.
We should draw as much as possible of what we are dissatisfied with in relation to the instrument to that committee's attention.