Official Report 139KB pdf
Homelessness etc (Scotland) Bill: <br />as amended at Stage 2
We raised a couple of questions on two amendments to the delegated powers in the bill, which were made at stage 2. One amendment restricted the power of referral, under section 7. We asked what the Executive's intentions were. The Executive has told us that it considers that it may not be appropriate to require an affirmative debate on every exercise of the power. Remember that this was an open power that the Executive gave itself and, as a matter of principle, the committee does not approve of such powers; we prefer that the Parliament decides. However, the Executive says that it is considering lodging an amendment at stage 3, which would provide a choice of procedure. I presume that we just have to wait and see what the Executive says.
We should examine carefully the wording of the draft provision when it appears. The issue is whether the Executive should decide whether the procedure is affirmative or negative. While we recognise that there are cases when the affirmative procedure might seem to be too bothersome, nevertheless we want at least to examine the idea that the Executive will make up its own mind about whether to submit an order to parliamentary scrutiny. It is a wee bit dodgy in principle, although in practice it might not be a wicked plot.
Actually, in this case the practice is probably all right, but we are not willing to allow this to go through on the nod, because it could be a bad habit that the Executive is getting into.
The Executive has suggested that it will lodge an amendment to section 8, so all that we can do at this stage is draw the Executive's response to the attention of the Parliament.
Okay.
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Executive Responses